Final Fantasy Highschool DxD: Advent Nightmare
by Lucas Bane
Summary: Advent-n.-1. The arrival of a notable person, thing, or event. After killing Cloud & Co., Sephiroth and Jenova are pulled into the Underworld through a rift in space. Their last promise was that wherever they end up, they'll become its rulers. Highschool DxD will face a new nightmare. I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! MY ACCOUNT WAS GLICHING OR SOMETHING! Next chapter will be up soon.
1. Advent Nightmare

**Hello folks, Lucas Bane here with a rare combination of stories. This story will be a crossover between Final Fantasy VII and Highschool DxD. If you're looking forward to Cloud and/or Co. kicking devil and fallen-angel butts, then you've come to the wrong place. While I have nothing personal against them, this story is about one man with one black wing. That's right! Sephiroth, aka 'The Nightmare', aka 'One-Winged Angel', aka 'Baddest MotherFu**er ever conceived!' **

**WARNING: THIS IS AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! DON'T GIVE ME TOO MUCH CRAP IF SOMEONE IS A LITTLE OOC! Be respectful about any problems you report and I will do my best to fix it. This chapter will just be a prologue, but it's main purpose is to see how well this idea is received. I came up with this idea just randomly. I was reading Highschool DxD by Zero011 when I came across one of the characters having a single black wing. Immediately, I thought of Sephiroth. He's called the One-Winged Angel, and that made me think of Fallen Angels, then I came to this idea. **

**Alright, note's over, now on with the prequel. Warning, if this story is received well enough, a much better prologue will be added if necessary. I do not own anything related to FFVII or HSDxD.**

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A blinding light.

A massive roar of an explosion.

These two sentences is all that anyone in the Underworld can describe. An explosion as far and wide as the sky itself occured, screaming out a violent, ear-splitting roar that would drive many beings deaf. None could look up into the sky to find the source of the explosion. If one could look, they wouldn't actually see an explosion yet. Instead, what their eyes would meet could only be explained as the very atmosphere itself was being drawn towards the sky as it began swelling.

_(Other side of phenomena)_

An unimagineable amount of energy collided with Cloud and his group as they had braced for the impact with all of their power. Sephiroth looked down at them with a triumphant smirk as he let the egdes of an actual sun pass by him and eradicate his rivals. He did this even when Cloud's buster sword was sticking out of his chest. It was his last chance of killing the annoying SOLDIER wanna-be before he succumbed to his wounds. Why was there a sun this close to the planet? It was the fruit of using a ton of magic power on Sephiroth's part.

His ultimate and last ditch attack- SuperNova. It involved one with a genius intellect concerning physics and astronomy, as well as a mage with the magical power of 500 magic casters. The spell pulled a far-away comet from outside the galaxy and into the Milky Way galaxy. From there, it would destroy anything in its way, planets included, til it reaches the sun. From there, the kinetic force would be so powerful, that the explosion would cause the sun to go supernova.

Since the comet was full of his magic, he controlled the expansion of the super nova to where it would impact his foes. Of course, since it was his magic that controlled the super nova, he could survive the experience with no worries. The real tricky part was destroying his enemies without taking the planet with it. This was the first time he's ever used it, yet he had been able to maintain adequate control over the spell, thanks in no small part to the knowledge of it being given by his mother.

_Jenova._

The world treated her as a monster. She was called the 'Calamity from the Sky!' Shinra used and experimented her body to no limits, even using her own blood to make the SOLDIERs that served the power company so well, even him. Now she was most likely dead. All thanks to Cloud and his pitiful friends.

"This is for you...Mother," he spoke in a soft, cold voice.

"AAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

He reveled in the cries of his enemies as the super nova roasted their defences and bodies. Then, something strange started happening. At first, it felt like the air was blowing, but there shouldn't be any air where he's at since the flames fed off of it. Also, he noticed that the atmosphere itself was acting weird. For a moment, he could have swore that he could see it.

Was this a side-effect of using such a powerful spell? Did he go too far!? To his slight horror, near the epicenter of the still-going super nova's impact zone, he saw the very air itself tear like some cheap piece of fabric.

'What is going on? Is the spell so powerful that it's ripping space itself?'

The tear grew larger, revealing a dark red void on the other side. His instincts told him to run away, but to his worry, he found himself being pulled in. He tried to fly against the pull, but he's already lost much blood, and his energy was depleted from having maintained this form of his for so long. This current form was his right arm being that of a massive black wing while below his waist, his body was a main body part that had six large, white and feathery, angel wings keeping him up.

To more of his distraught, the rest of his energy began failing him and his body slowly crumbled away into black particles, leaving him in only his humanoid form. Why he was still in his normal fatigues of a large, black trench coat that was open in the front, with large, silver shoulder-pads and his always trusted sword, Masamune, he had no idea, but he wasn't complaining. If he was to be sucked into an unknown void, then he'd like nothing better then to have his sword with him.

Still, even in his human form, he fought against the current, hoping to ride it out. Fire from the explosion was being sucked at high speeds around him and into the tear. No, he's not going to go. Now that his main foes are out of the way, there's nothing stopping him from conquering this world.

_"Son."_

His eyes widen and he starts looking around, not sure if what he heard was real or not. It was his mother's voice in his head. Jenova's voice. But where? A lump of flesh about half his size flew by him towards the rift. His sharp, bluish-green eyes narrowed his vision and the object came into focus. A pale skinned woman with white hair.

'Mother.'

He sprouts a black, feathery wing from his back and it catches the current, snagging him towards the tear at high speeds. He easily covered the distance b/w him and his mother and grabbed onto her leg. During her defeat, she'd reverted from her synthesis form, that looked like her uppoer body was attached to a giant skull with tentacles, back to her more human form as well, though when the swordsman saw the physical state she was in, his anger grew.

There were deep wounds over the majority of her pale body, likely caused by sword slashes. She was missing her right leg and arm as well. Along her abdomen were numerous bullet wounds, likely from that massive black man's grafted gun. Along her delicate face were numerous bruises and her left eye was swollen shut. It looked like Tifa Lockhart did a real number with her fists.

As he was trying to fight against the pull of the rift, a small telepathic whimper sounded throughout his head. He looked down at his mother to see her bright pink eye looking up at him. They didn't say anything to each other, but he didn't need to be told what she was feeling. Being beaten to near death and now in danger of being sucked into some dark void, she sent out a feeling she'd never done before.

Apprehension.

She wasn't sure of her fate. Like any being, including Sephiroth himself, she didn't want to die. It was the most basic and most common fear among any sentient being. Jenova, being possibly hundreds of thousands of years old, was no different.

With a loud shrilling scream, the tear widened and the pulling force quadrupled. Sephiroth knew he couldn't fight it with his current level of strength. He'd used too much energy in his fights and using the SuperNova spell. He was never one to be frantic and fret over dire situations, not to say he's never been shocked a few times, so his face and mind remained stoic. One could even say he was at peace.

He withdrew his wing and let the force take them both. Sensing the confused expression of his mother touched him. He put up a good, convincing front to ease her thoughts.

"Don't worry, Mother. If we go, we'll be together," he spoke in a calm, deep voice. "And when we arrive to wherever we're going, we'll start a new world. No one will stop us from achieving your ambitions."

His pale-green eyes met her bright pink ones and he and she soon relaxed. Afterall, she'd never been this close to dying before. She was always so much more powerful then any other being. Yet somehow, despite her power, and her defeat at the hands of a group of humans and a dog, her son's gaze and words brought her comfort.

Forgetting all about her impending doom, she focused the rest of her magic to fuse with Sephiroth's to act as a layer of protection. It was a much weaker version of her magic she used to put herself into hybernation while traveling from planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy. This was just a safety precaution in case they ended up in space. She was sure Sephiroth couldn't survive in that environment without some form of protection. If they were lucky, they wouldn't be in any need of her magic shell.

Sephiroth was curious about the purpose of the magical shell that formed around them. It looked sort of like a cocoon. It was definately his mother's magic. Even in death, she wants to protect him, like he would her. The two closed their eyes as the magic did it's job and started to preserve them. In this, they would be protected from all the elements of nature, including zero oxygen and aging. They will not awake again till they enter a safe environment.

As the pink, egg-shaped pod passed through the void, the explosion from the actual SuperNova spell soon died down. When it ended, the rift closed. There was no trace of anything. No FFVII group. No signs of battle. Just a giant crater that covered a tenth of the planet while the rest of the planet was spared since the spell lost its source of power, aka Sephiroth.

_(Back in the Underworld)_

Many believed that God and his angel army were making an all-out assault on the Underworld. What other being could possess so much power as to distort the very sky of Hell? When the sky rip open, revealing a bright, orange and yellow light, it looked like a sun was crashing into their world. Many devils panicked and running about or taking cover. The armies of Sirzech-Lucifer and the other Satans were gathering to prepare for what they believed was an attack by God's forces.

When the hole opened, massive streams of fire spewed out into the Underworld, igniting the very sky around it. Many of Hell's occupants were terrified, something that's ironic since it's just fire, but they could feel the power within it and whatever was on the otherside of the rift that was trying to get in. After a couple of minutes, the explosion started to dwindle. The rift began closing up. When people didn't see any attacking army, they were confused.

During the chaos, no one bothered to notice a strange pink object shooting from the hole. Actually, only two beings noticed the sudden surge of power that entered into their universe from out of nowhere. While one didn't care, the other, a black-haired girl, was curious enough to investigate. It sailed across the distance and disappeared over the horizon. The 'One-Winged Angel' and the 'Calamity from the Sky' have arrived in the Underworld, in a universe that was already experiencing war b/w Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels, with the unsuspecting humans caught in the middle.

How with their arrival affect everyone?

Will they choose a side?

Will they immediately go to war?

* * *

**And that's the prologue: I won't be surprised by any flames I get, afterall, I DID kill off Cloud and them. Sorry for any slight OOCness. Even more, I brought Jenova back. I never got to experience much of her in the games, even though she was almost the center of it all. You just didn't see her in the game except for when you fought her.**

**Since this is an AU (alternate universe), I made Jenova more human, like when she was in her tank in the mako reactor. This will help me write her better. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts and expectations for this story. Please let me know how you feel and what you might want me to do to make this story work. Also, I'm still working on trying to learn about the HSDxD world, so if I mess anything up, please be respectful about it and just let me know.**

**As for how the two arrives in HSDxD. It is said that Sephiroth's SuperNova attack is so powerful that it can shatter dimensions. 'Nough said. As for pairings or hook-ups, talk to me about any ideas, b/c I haven't thought much about them yet, but I am open to suggestions.**

**Thank you. Bane out.**


	2. Unexpected Visitor

**A/N: Hey everyone. I'd like to thank the people who reviewed my story. 'reader', alternatefuturefan27, and RealmOfEmptiness, I'm thankful for your thoughts. Don't worry, AFF27, you won't have to call Chuck Norris on me. 'reader', I would put it in the crossover section, but there's no stories in that section. If I did that, I'm afraid alot fewer people will find my story. RealmOfEmptiness, we've already exchanged a few PMs, and I'm very thankful for all the advice and help you've given me.**

**And just to let you all know, these few early chapters are probably gonna take the longest to get done, because I've looked in the wiki, and there's a SH*T LOAD of information about Ophis, Great Red, and the Khaos Brigade that I have to make sure not to screw up. Some of them will be making their appearance in this chapter.**

**Here's the chapter, I don't own anything from FFVII or HSDxD, now enjoy.**

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For tens of millenia, the forces of Heaven, Hell, and those of the Fallen Angels, have been at constant war with each other. It was in the last great war that the original Satans and God were inexplicably killed, and the numbers on all sides were reduced to a mere fraction of their original sizes. The first ones to withdraw from the war were the Fallen Angels, led by their General Governor, Azazel, a former Seraph of God's forces. After that, it was between the forces of the Underworld and Heaven, which eventually settled down to just random acts of bouts or small-scale fights. Even with the Great War over, the factions still fought out of spite for each other.

Though there haven't been many large scale battles, there were always some kind of violence occuring between the three factions. Currently, Sephiroth and Jenova's hybernation capsule was heading towards one of these small battles. From afar, sporadic blasts of fire or ice would pop up from the dust clouds, or spears of light would be thrown towards their target. Up close, it revealed a medium sized battle consisting of twenty devils and fifteen fallen angels, the latter's numbers decreasing rapidly. Though the groups saw and heard the strange explosion in the sky, it was far enough away for them to give it little attention at the moment.

The group of Fallen Angels were fighting ferociously but were just outmatched. The enemy force consisted of high-class demons, and numerous rooks, pawns, bishops, knights, and a queen. Being that, they were apart of the other two high-class demons' peerage. They were lower-class and mid-class demons of various genders and make-ups. Though they had several pawns, a bishop, and a knight incapacitated or injured, mainly of just one demon's peerage, they were overwhelming the fallen angels.

Losing another member to a blast of hellfire from a small-sized dragon, the F-angels' numbers dropped to eleven. This dragon in particular was actually a man by the name of Ladora Bune, who's from a family of dragon tamers, meaning that they can transform into actual dragons.

"Dammit!" cursed the unofficial leader of the small remainder of Fallen Angels in this battle. His commanding officer and more then half of their fighting force dead, they had no other option except retreat. "Damn that Sairaorg Bael."

This Sairaorg Bael was proclaimed as the strongest of the newest generation of young devils and well known since he's the next heir to the Bael Family. In battle, he's known as 'The Great King.' Said man is a tall, musclular, handsome man with black hair and violet eyes. His golden armor shone brightly over the bloody battlefield.

The other high-class devil that stood with him was Zephyrdor Glasya-Labolas, heir to the Glasya-Labolas Family. He was a young man with bright green hair and had little armor, showcasing a large display of tattoos covering his face and body. He wore a smirk that was very arrogant and condescending towards all.

"What are you mangie angel rejects gonna do now? We've killed most of your comrades already!" mocked the young, demon boy. The taunt made the beaten fallen angels grind their teeth in both humiliation and anger.

"Shit...We're outmatched! We've got to retreat. Fall back now!" he ordered. A raven-haired angel flew to his side and supported his bloody body. He appreciated the help, though the woman's wasn't much better then he was.

"Ezek, we won't be able to get far, unless we go to the human world." He noted the worried looks on the remaining eight of his fellow soldiers. They were all tired, while the devils only lost a few and didn't show any signs of tiring.

"We need a miracle," he mumbled. As if by divine intervention, no pun intended, a strange meteor-like object came within view. It's trajectory was headed right towards them and was enough to catch everyone's attention. "Scatter!" Ezek yelled. Everyone scrambled to get out of the way of the kamikazing object.

While the F-angels got out of the way, as did the devils, the object slammed into the battlefield, cratering a good 50meters and throwing everything in all directions. They all were surprised by the force of the crash and got thrown like ragdolls. Everyone save for a few lied there, silently declaring the ground more comfortable to standing. The few that did get up were Sairaorg, his queen-Kuisha Abaddon, and his rooks-Gandoma Balon and the dragon tamer.

The much weaker devils, such as his bishops and Zephyrdor, along with the remainder of his peerage, was strewn about and slower to get up. The Fallen Angels were thrown much farther away, away from the crater's view. Not seeing the enemies anywhere nearby, the young devils curiously made their way over to the crater's edge. The dust cloud from the impact was still making visibility a pain. When they got to the edge of the crater, they all could see a bright, pink glow come from the center of the hole.

"What is heck is that?" Zephyrdor asked, having never seen something with a glow like that.

"I'm not sure, but keep your distance. It might have been reinforcements for the F-angels," Sairaorg said. The younger demon heir didn't like being what to do but held his tongue. Eventually, they too were joined by his own peerage, all wondering what sent them flying. "Can't somebody get rid of this dust?"

"Yeah, just a moment," Ladora said. He was still in his dragon form, so he used his wings to fan away the obscurring clouds to reveal to everyone a bright, pink, magical capsule of some sort.

Slowly, the object lost its luminosity and began fading. What it revealed shocked the devils. Inside were two people, a man and a woman, both with light skin and white and silver manes of hair respectively. Both looked like the crashed had done a serious number on the girl. While her body was free of any cuts or bruises, her body was missing an arm and a leg. The man with her didn't have any visible injuries that they could see.

"Come on, they look like they need help!" Sairaorg ordered and he and his bishops tried to go into the crater but a magical barrier in the shape of a dome prevented them from entering. "What the? A magic shield?"

Misteeta Sabnock, one of his rooks, placed his hand on the barrier softly. A magic pulse pushed his hand back rather roughly as a result. "Can you feel this magic? It's unlike anything I've ever felt. It doesn't have any traces of Holy or Demonic energy, yet it's clearly evil. It's like an entirely new form of magic!"

Hearing that, Sairaorg grew a little uneasy. Not only that, but Regulus' voice was constantly yelling at him at the moment.

_"Get away from there, Master. I feel something very bad coming from those two. Either run or destroy__ them!" _The sense of urgency was something he hadn't heard from his recently acquired pawn ever. Suddenly, the shielding broke like shattered glass and the mysterious man began to stir.

* * *

Dreams of the last moments of his grand fight with Cloud and his friends had filled Sephiroth's mind as he slept. Through that time, he also reflected back on his entire existence. He was raised on the belief that his mother, the woman beside him now, had died giving birth to him. He was raised to be a super-soldier for the Shinra Electric Power Company in SOLDIER.

He happily and sadly remembered his times with two of his closest friends, Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley and the many spars they would have. He discovered his origins in the basement laboratory of the Shinra Manor in Nibelheim. Then he remembered finally finding mother, as well as the surprising defeat against Cloud and being thrown into the mako where his powerful will kept him from assimiliating into the Lifestream.

From there, he'd wondered about without a body, learning everything about the race that he'd supposedly came from, as well as growing smarter and more powerful. He even grew powerful enough to be able to control other beings who'd been infected with Jenova's cells, as well as manifesting his form from the remnents of his mother's body inside the Shinra's Headquarters to kill the Shinra president and ellude Cloud.

From there, he went on to remember his travels across the world, evading Cloud here and there, and killing Aerith. Then, the time came when he manipulated Cloud into giving him the Black materia to some Meteor. The rest of the memories flew by as he reviewed his errors and learned from them, namely not underestimating his opponents, and to stop holding back on them.

Truth is, the reason he took such a beating from Cloud and friends was because he held back his power. Call him a masochist, but he just wanted the challenge. Now, however, his opponents were gone, his initial plans ruined, his mother beaten to a pulp, and the two of them were in unknown territory. His eyes slowly opened, revealing a blurry world filled with red colors.

Groggily, he sat up and rubbed his eyes to clear the eye-boogers (i.e. 'sleep') away. When he got his vision cleared, he looked around and immediately noticed the crater they were in, as well as the dozen or so people staring down at him.

'Humans. Why more humans?'

The most notable one was wearing a suit of golden armor with a lion's face as a breastplate, looking down at him with caution, his body ready to react to anything. Looking over the rest of the group, he noticed most of them looked rather young. 'Great...not just humans, but kids.' Then he noticed a dragon that was about 14meters tall and probably much longer. He stood up and dusted his clothes off. 'A dragon too? Doesn't seem like much different then my world.'

Looking down, he saw his mother lying on the ground, still moving but only slightly. He bent down and check her body and was glad to see that all of her wounds had sealed up and it looked like she was just resting.

"Recover your strength, Mother." He stood up and looked out at his audience. "What world am I in?" he asked aloud, noting the chilling effect his smooth and dark voice had on them.

No doubt it was intimidating to these youngsters, save for a few. He stood at 6'1, wearing a long, black coat with silver pauldrons (looks like football shoulder pads), black boots and black clothing, with the opened top of his clothing revealing his chest with his leather SOLDIER suspenders criss-crossing an 'X' fashion over it.

His long silver hair, with bangs parted to either side of his face, swayed gently in a breeze.

"What do you mean, what world?" Zephyrdor asked. "You're in the Underworld. How could you not know that?" he asked mockingly. He started laughing but Sairaorg stopped him. The brave devil couldn't help but feel an intense aura around this stranger.

When Sairaorg first saw the man stand at full height to fully reveal himself, he couldn't help but think of the man as intimidating. He definitely wasn't the most intimidating person he's seen, but he was close to the top. Probably fifth place. The man's cold and calculating gaze was probably the worst he's seen though. Then he noticed the cat-like slits of his pupils.

"I think this guy's a Nekomata. He's pupils are slitted like theirs," he said. Strange, as this was the first time he's seen a male cat-person. Since the Nekomata race is nearly extinct, just seeing one is rare.

"Well the pussy cat needs to learn not to crashland into somebody's battle unless he plans on fighten as well. Besides, this is just between us devils and fallen angels right now!" the arrogant and hot-tempered clan heir shouted, angry that some cat guy interrupted their imminent victory. Those F-angels were probably long gone by now.

Sephiroth was processing this information so far. He was in the 'Underworld', and apparently, he bared some resemblance to a race of cat-people called Nekomata, and that he'd interrupted a fight between Devils and Fallen Angels. The pussy cat remark didn't go unnoticed either. He'll make sure that boy is the first to die in the name of his mother and his new world.

Not knowing what these devils were capable of, he decided that he wasn't going to hold back. He may have been the ultimate SOLDIER back in his world, but he could be relatively weak compared to these beings. Rolling his shoulders, they popped loudly. He gave a soft sigh from the relief. His body felt like it hadn't moved in decades! How long had they been traveling?

Donning his confident smug, the same one he used on Cloud and Genesis, his was mentally pleased to see it irritate the young, bad-mannered devil.

"Hey! What's with the smug? You find something funny?" Zephyrdor called out.

"You," Sephiroth said, pointing at Zephyrdor, "what is your name?"

The question surprised them, but the boy answered proudly. "Zephyrdor Glasya-Labolas, the next heir to the Glasya-Labolas Family, one of the remaining devil families of the 72 Pillars that survived the Great War. What's it to ya?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sephiroth closed his eyes and smiled. "Depending on whether I let you live or not, I will become your new ruler, as well as the Underworld's."

The statement drew audible gasps from almost everyone, including Zephyrdor. None of them were expecting that kind of an answer. About a hundred meters away, Ezek had gathered the remainder of his group and ordered them to escape. When asked what he was going to do, he told them that he'd investigate the crash. Now here he was, watching the group of devils lookind down the crater, talking to someone.

"What kind of nonsense is that!?" Zephyrdor yelled, drawing a sword of demonic energy, yet his battle readiness did not intimidate this stranger one bit.

"It means, that I, Sephiroth, and my mother, Jenova, will rule this world and all other ones, child," he declared as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Due to Zephyrdor's bad-temper, he couldn't feel the terrifying aura surrounding them all. It was enough to visible shaken many of the peerages.

"This...aura!" Liban Crocell, one of Sairaorg's knights, exlaimed.

"His murderous intent...I can feel it all the way from here," Coriana Andrealphus, one of his bishops, said with a sad, almost submissive ,voice. "It feels like I'm being stabbed right in the heart."

Sairaorg was nervous as well. "That name...Sephiroth. It means 'Manifestation of God.' And his mother's name, Jenova...it means 'New God'. This seems to be more then a coincidence," he warned. His body was ready to battle this unnerving man, but his mind was still apprehensive.

Zephyrdor had ignored all of this and chose to lunge down at Sephiroth. He used his demon wings to fly down swiftly and when he got within range, he swung down with both hands on his sword and tried to bisect the infuriating man. To his confusion, and everyone else's, his sword had stopped in midair. The man wasn't even looking at him yet he had his left land raised up with the palm open. The ground underneath him was cratered slightly, so he had indeed made contact...but with what?

Out of thin air, a nodachi began manifesting into his hand from some kind of green mist. Zephyrdor couldn't help but follow the blade's length till it stopped at an insane eight feet. The angered boy now didn't feel so angry, but scared, when he looked back at the man who was meeting his gaze. He saw cold, ruthless, pale-green eyes staring into his soul.

"Try to make this amusing." With inhuman strength and speed, Sephiroth swung his Masamune and sent the boy flying hundreds of feet through the air.

The show of strength and appearance of the beautifully crafted sword put the devils on full alert. Ezek didn't know what had happened, but he saw one boy fly down into the crater only to be thrown out across the sky seconds later.

'What is going on? Is it reinforcements, or an angel?' He was silently hoping for the former.

Shocking the people, Sephiroth jumped from his crater without the aid of wings, as well putting up the magic barrier to keep his recovering mother safe. He soared through the air and quickly caught up with his opponent. His sudden presence startled the boy who reacted with wild swings of his swords. Sephiroth expertly parried each strike. In fact, he decided to do it with his eyes closed.

This act infuriated the boy when it should have scared some sense into him. Sephiroth was so far out of his league that the man didn't even need sight to defend himself.

"Octoslash," Sephiroth muttered, immediately launching eight strikes with his Masamune that was far too fast for Zephyrdor to keep up with. Sephiroth's sword cried with glee as it whistled through the air and through both flesh and bone. The attacks were so swift that there wasn't even any blood on the sword as it came out. In just two seconds, Sephiroth was floating on the other side of the rash heir with his nodachi resting over his left shoulder.

Seconds felt like forever, but in just a few of them, blood shot out of each of the wounds from the blade and rained onto the earth below the boy. His eyes were wide as headlights and his mouth wide open, shakily breathing. Moments after that, his wings fell apart after having been severed near the base and he fell helplessly towards the ground.

"Oh no!" Sairaorg yelled, unable to believe that this nekomata defeated a fellow peerage's king in less then a minute. Ezek, who was still in hiding, watched the display with fascination. He and a few others, such as Sairaorg and the knights and queens of both peerage, had the eye-sight to keep up with the man's blade movement, though just barely. Despite having been extremely fast, each swing of his blade was flawless in technique, waisted no movement, and was more gracefull then any swordsmanship they'd ever seen.

The remaining knight of Zephrydor rushed with his incredible speed to catch his defeated master. Before he could get to him though, the ground in front of him suddenly shot up into several stone spikes, several of them impaling his master in mid-air. The unexpected event left everyone speechless. Those not associated with his peerage looked up at Sephiroth to see the lingering traces of magic fading from his hand. The bastard still had a smug on his face!

"Pathetic. So, who would like to be the next one to die for my new world?" Sephiroth asked with no signs of remorse for what he just did. He wasn't affected by it at all.

The knight who had ran to rescue his master let out a cry of rage as he charged at Sephiroth. To some amount of horror, this mysterious warrior was able to still deflect the lightning quick blows from the knight with practiced ease. Though the knight's rapid swings and thrusts were pressing against Sephiroth, he didn't show any signs of discomfort.

"Your speed is impressive. You'd have been a fine SOLDIER, but your emotions are slowing down your blade, and making you blind," he said right before he swung out against the knight. The boy jumped back but in his rage-induced assault, he'd neglected to remain thoughtful of the length of Sephiroth's blade. He thought he was in the clear, but was soon screaming in pain as he felt the polished edge of the eight foot nodachi amputate both his legs.

His legs were gone, so as a knight, he was as good as dead. Sephiroth stood over him, smug never leaving.

"You're new to killing. You've got the eyes that have probably seen only one or two battles. A more experienced fighter would have remembered the length of his opponent's blade." When he finished his lecture, his raised his blade to impale the boy who looked no older then sixteen, but several shards of ice spikes shot towards him.

Forgetting the boy, he turned and successfully bisected every single ice spike that posed a threat to his being. He looked at the source to see a woman who looked half angry and half scared readying another magic attack. She had apparently shot them from her hands. Despite the fact that he'd effortlessly deflected all of the icicles, she shot out more.

Not caring to deflect them, his left hand that was gripping his Masamune glowed with fire. The fire spread to his blade with with two swipes and a mutter of 'Firaga' (this is equivalent to Fire3), he sent two waves of fire at the girl. His flames decimated her attack and would have gone on to strike her but the large dragon from before countered his fire with its own fire breath. The two attacks exploded upon impact with each other and temporarily blinded many of the peerages.

Squinting against the flame, Ladora's dragon eyes widen when Sephiroth flew through the flames with his sword held back and ready to cleave his head off. He barely manages to move his head, but in return the long sword cuts a three foot deep gash down the length of his body. His strength quickly fades from him and he reverts back to his human form.

Sephiroth seemed genuinely surprised. "You can transform into a dragon? A useful ability, but it puts you at a disadvantage against someone like me. A mistake you won't make again. That's a promise." Ladora felt dread creep into his body with each word Sephiroth spoke, the voice just cold and confident, yet it promised death.

He closed his eyes and roared in pain as the blade was stabbed right into his chest.

"NOOO!" Sairaorg jumps in and throws a kick from above. Sephiroth lifts up his right hand a catches the kick by the ankle, but the ground was simply destroyed underneath them. Sephiroth slings the young man over his body and into the ground. He pulls him up by the ankle still and slams the boy over his body and into the ground again and again for five more times before Sairaorg manages to catch him before a six slam can be executed.

Twisting his body like a break dancer, he sends a spinning kick into Sephiroth's gut, having caught him offguard. To his horror, that powerful kick was only enough to send Sephiroth into the air about thirty feet but the man stops himself in midair. The smile still hasn't changed.

"You're strong and pretty agile. I knew you would be the biggest threat here."

Sairaorg was panting slightly from the abuse he'd received just a few moments ago. "What the hell is your deal? I can understand wanting to beat up Zephyrdor because of his rude behavior, but why must you kill him for it? And then the others and their injuries-why?"

Sephiroth actually dropped the smile in place for a deep-concentrated look. "Because...I feel like it. Me and Mother have been granted a new chance to live, and to rule. I will not take the chance of some young rookie growing stronger to hinder my plans in the future. 'Nip the weed at the bud,' I believe the expression is."

Sairaorg couldn't believe the words he was hearing. This guy is a lunatic! "Who-or what-are you? You are definitely no Nekomata."

"I have no knowledge of these Nekomata, except from what I've heard from you. As for who I am.. I have been called 'The Nightmare', or 'The One-Winged Angel'."

"What?" Before the young lion-armored Devil could ask more, a single, black feathery wing sprouted from Sephiroth's back on his right side. "Y-you're a...Fallen Angel?!"

The man chuckled shortly before responding cooly, "Never heard of them," and suddenly disappeared from sight. In an instant, he was right there in front of Sairaorg and slashed with both hands across his chest. The strength, technique, and speed of the swing let the Masamune cut clean through the breast plate of Regulus Nemea, shattering the armor like a rock.

"S-so...fast.." he muttered in disbelief as he flew backwards to land next to his incapacitated, seemingly dead, rook. Neither bodies moved.

"KING!"

"SAIRAORG!"

His entire peerage all rushed to aid their fallen master and friend. The knights and remaining rook stood between Sephiroth and his victims while the bishops and queen went to help them. Their first priority was retreating to safety. The queen prepared a transportation spell for all of them, including Zephyrdor's peerage who recovered both him, the legless knight, and their injured from the battle before. While little would be able to help their master, a phoenix tear could give the knight back his legs.

"Oh, you've all gathered to be put down together? That just makes this that much easier," Sephiroth claimed as his sword began glowing a dark red. "Shadow Flare."

Black orbs of sickly bkack energy popped up around the group of Devils. It all sped towards them and exploded just as they were covered in a red aura. The destruction wrought on by the twelve flares devastated the area within 200meters of the blast. The force was enough to blow Ezek much further away while the whole time he was in awe of what he'd seen. A Fallen Angel with one just forcing two whole peerages to retreat.

The blast created a black mushroom-shaped cloud that climbed hundreds of yards into the sky. One would have thought a miniature nuclear bomb was detonated. It was this scene the black-haired girl from before saw while searching for the landing site of the mysterious object that fell into their universe.

'Convenient,' she thought. She flew through the air at high speeds and stopped on the ground a dozen feet away from Sephiroth, though doing so gracefully. He looked at her with little interest, yet she was studying him like a hawk.

"Listen little girl, I'm not interested in fighting anymore weaklings right now. I need to tend to Mother at the moment." He turned away from her, having already been a little annoyed that the group he was fighting got away with some sort of transportation spell.

"I would like to make a deal with you, stranger,' the black-haired girl said. "I can help you first. You said your mother needs help."

When she took a step forward, Sephiroth brought his Masamune up with its point at her neck. "Don't step any closer. I don't have time for any nonsense," he said in a cold voice.

What surprised him was the annoyed look she had. It's like she didn't even consider him a threat. Proving that thought, she placed her hand along his blade and moved it to the side a bit as she stepped closer. "So helping your mother is nonsense? Some kind of son you are."

He took a more careful look at the girl. She was causasion with long black hair and looked to be about seventeen. She had a regular body physique and she wore a black, lolita-style dress, a style that was completely foreign to him. He made sure to keep his guard up. Those before her were visibly frightened by just his presence, yet this young woman showed no fear at all, even after stepping within Masamune's range.

"Well, do we have a deal?" she asked, slightly more annoyed that she'd had to repeat the question.

"Who are you? You're not like the others." She didn't really care about that stuff from earlier.

"I'm called Ophis. I'm the oldest and one of the most powerful dragons in existence. There are dragons weaker then me who can kill a Satan or God, but I'm stronger then all of them combined when I'm feelin' good. I have many abilities which can most certainly help your mother, but I need a favor when I'm done."

"What kind of favor?"

"I live in a place called the 'Dimensional Gap', which lies between the Underworld, Earth, and Heaven. I've lived there since I was born from nothingness. It was very peaceful. One day, I step outside of it and then come back to find this massive, red dragon inhabiting it and making all kinds of noises. Needless to say, I'm pissed because he won't leave. I even made my own personal army to help get rid of him, yet he is more powerful then all of us. I want your help."

Sephiroth almost lost control of his expression. If he'd been back at Midgar or somewhere and heard this, he would have commented on the bright imagination the girl had, but seeing as he was technically in the Underworld, her story might not be so farfetched.

"Bottom line is, I want your help in getting rid of the 'Great Red,' so I can finally have peace and solitude again," she said with a straight, no-nonsense attitude. Sephiroth smiled in delight. He could use this dragon woman to his advantage if he bargained just right.

"I will help you if you help me become the rulers of these worlds." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Deal." Ophis nodded as the two shook hands.

"My name is Sephiroth, and this is my mother, Jenova." He gestured over to her lying form. Ophis stepped past him to look over his mother's wounds.

She didn't bother to ask about the difference in looks of this woman and her son, afterall, she didn't even know how she was born from 'nothing.' Seeing nothing out of the ordinary besides the few missing limbs, whose wounds had healed over, she picked the woman up with no strain at all.

"Follow me. While I don't like the Great Red, he owes me a favor, so you don't have to worry about fighting him so soon. Oh, and try not to stare. He hates people who stare at him."

He wasn't expecting them to meet their target so soon and the truth that she had a favor the dragon owed her only raised some questions. 'What kind of relationship do these two have?' Yet, there was an even more important question he needed to have answered.

"Just one question. Show me a glimpse of your power, one befitting that of the title you claim to have," Sephiroth requested in his calm voice.

Ophis sighed before handing Jenova over to his care. He took his mother's form into his arms while she casted some sort of magic over the two of them. "This is to protect you from the Dimensional Gap. Only the Great Red and I can live within it while those with no sort of protection would die quickly. It will also shield you from some of the power I'm about to release, so be ready."

He understood and let her finish the spell while he silently talk to his mother. 'Just wait, Mother. We've ran into some luck. We're already at a good start.' The woman's body moved a little in his arms as feelings of her approval filled his mind.

Ophis' dark-brown eyes glowed a pitch black as waves of black energy manifested around her body like an aura. Sephiroth could feel the massive weight of her power, stunning him by the amount this girl's small body contained, yet she seemed bored. With a lazy flick of her arm, a massive, black wave of energy shot out to the side of them.

Sephiroth tried to keep his eyes from widening to maintain his calm exterior. The blast was a silent as the coming night and didn't cause a massive explosion, so there was no tremor of shockwave from it. It widened out to about a mile wide, consuming all in its path for several miles out. It kept growing bigger and bigger and seemed to go on forever. It's length from left to right was as far as the horizon. The attack continued for a full minute and was spreading energy could be seen by all for many, many miles away.

When the energy dissipated, there was nothing left where the wave had passed through. He meant that in the most literally sense of the term. Nothing. Not a hole in the ground, or some kind of canyon..just...nothing. She turned to him with the same bored expression. "So, is that good enough for you?"

"With such power, and it only being second to our target's, I think I'm looking forward to this fight."

For the first time since their meeting, the black-haired WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction) smiled, something that was highly unlike her. She waved her hand from left to right and a portal opened up, revealing a real eye-irritating mixture of lights and colors. He walked through it while keeping close to Ophis' tail, no pervertedness intended, leaving the battlefield. Ezek had silently watched the entire scene and couldn't believe his eyes.

Sephiroth. Jenova. Ophis, the 'Infinite Dragon God!' While he knew a little of Ophis, his thoughts about Sephiroth and Jenova were becoming exaggerated as he knew the definitions of those names.

'This can't be coincidence. A woman named 'New God' and her son named 'Manifestation of God', both here together and now allied with the legendary Infinite Dragon God!? I'll have to tell the others. Azezel will also want to hear of this.' He gathered some of the magic he had left and formed a transportation seal. Casting one last look over the battlefield, he let a smile grow on his face.

'That Sephiroth had the wing of a Fallen Angel. That similar trait could help persuade him to join our cause.' The spell now complete, he disappeared to return to the homebase of the Fallen Angels.

* * *

When the two groups of peerages arrived in the waiting lobby of the Phenex Family's mansion, their sudden appearance and ghastly state of physical well-being immediately alarmed the whole household. The group came to this house for a reason. the Phenex Family were high-class, pure-blooded devils who shared many similar traits to the legendary bird of fire, one being immortality. It was here that this family could easily save their dying members.

With her husband, the head of the Phenex Family, off consorting with other high-upclassed nobles, Lady Phenex was caught in a very troubling position. She hurriedly issued instructions to bring several vials of the family's precious 'Phoenix tears' as soon as news had reached her ears of the unexpected visitors. They had immediately been rushed to the house's medical facilities.

The tears, which are nothing but tears straight from the eyes of any of the Phenex family's body, are very valuable commodaties that have helped the family gain tremendous wealth with its super-regenerative properties. It can heal just about any injury, with the exception of blood loss and lost organs.

When she arrived in the medical wing of the mansion, something that was pointless for the Phenex Family members and was built more or so for any guests or emergency situation like this one. When she arrived, she saw all of the young devils being tended to for their minor injuries while four of them were in the emergency rooms.

As she evaluated each one, she caught murmurs of some swordsman and Fallen Angels. If the Fallen Angels were behind this, then the tensions b/w the two races would rise exponentially, especially with the two biggest victims being heirs to their respective families. When she checked on the more dire patients, she had to cover her mouth from some of the wounds she saw.

A handsome man with black hair and a muscular body had a deep laceration going across his chest. The wound was already being treated with a phoenix tear but the blood would have to be replaced. The next boy was actually a young adult male who was lying on his stomach. He was being treated with a phoenix tear as well, though his wounds consisted of a similar giant laceration that reached deep into his body, almost gutting him completely. Along with that was a hole in his chest where he was stabbed completely through. The blade had narrowly missed his heart, but it did clipped his vertebrae.

The third patient was a young blonde boy who'd had his legs severed off above knees. He was conscious and being treated as well, but his mental pain seemed to be much greater then his physical one. In the bed in the next room laid the final victim, a white blanket covering his entire form. The boy was pronounced dead upon arrival.

This incident was going to attract ALOT of attention, even more so when she recognized the fatality as Zephyrdor, who's the next heir to the Glasya-Labolas Family, but his much more common connection was with his brother. His brother was Falbium Asmodeus, one of the four current Satans of the Underworld. He would definitely cause much mayhem to whoever did this.

Her other mortally wounded patient was none other then Sairaorg Bael, the next heir to the Bael Clan, WHO was the highest ranked Family of the 72 Pillars! Lord Bael will not rest lightly after hearing this. Lady Phenex expects her house to become very busy with hosting numerous guests in the forseeable future. If she is to leviate some of the pressure, then she'll have to find out just what happened.

She approached the lightly wounded devils and informed them of each of the critically injured patients' conditions. The news that Zephyrdor is dead brought all of his peerage to tears and curses. While Sairaorg was assured a full recovery, it did only some good to ease the stress on his own peerage. His queen was still very distraught, much more so then the others.

"Alright, I want to know exactly what happened?" Lady Phenex demanded, her sharp tone lost of all kindness that usually accompanied it.

"We were battling several Fallen Angels who thought they could ambush us," Sairaorg's queen, Kuisha Abaddon, declared. "They probably felt that with our deaths, it would be a significant blow to the Underworld." Her pony-tail was in a mess, along with her eyes, which were red and puffy from crying in worry for her king.

"So a group of Fallen Angels was able to do this?" she asked skeptically. Sairaorg Bael was a champion-class contender in the Ratings Games, and was the strongest of all the Young Devils.

"Well, we believe so," Kuisha responded solemnly. "We're not really sure."

The Phenex woman raised a brow when she heard that. "What do you mean? How could you not be sure?"

"Something crashed in the midst of our battle with the Fallen Angels," Coriana, one of Sairaorg's bishops, said. "After it crashed, the F-Angels used its distraction to retreat. Then, the object appeared to be a form of transportation shaped like a cocoon. Inside were two people, one was a man with long silver hair who said his name was Sephiroth. He then introduced his unconscious mother as Jenova."

The meaning of the names didn't go unnoticed by Lady Phenex, yet she didn't stop them from continuing explaining what happened. "Zephyrdo mocked the man, but when Sephiroth taunted him, he charged down to strike him. The man stopped the blade by materializing a long nodachi from a green mist. He managed to knock Zephyrdor far into the sky with a single swing and then jumped hundreds of yards up to exchange blows with him. Gravity seemed to have no effect on his jumping abilities."

She stopped explaining and Beruka Fercus, a knight, explained the next bit. "His swordsmanship skills were unbelievable, even with his long sword. It was probably seven to nine feet long. With a fast combo that I could barely keep up with, he landed several fatal blows to the boy's body, as well as removing his wings."

As this was spoken, the King-less peerage's faces all visibly contorted with different emotions as the event was explained again, as if living through it wasn't bad enough.

"Sephiroth then used some sort of long range magic that turned the earth below into spikes that impaled Zephyrdo's body before his knight could recover his falling body. He then charged at Sephiroth but despite his speed, the man's speed and skills were far greater and his legs were sliced off. Sephiroth was about to lay the finishing move before the rest of us intervened. He managed to defeat Ladora-san in his dragon form with ease, as well as Sairaorg in Regulus' Balance-Breaker," the queen finished.

"His skills were flawless and he never lost his focus. His strength in defeating Master and Ladora-san was unreal as he took a kick without even grimacing. He also showed magic powers that could shoot fire from his sword, as well as superior speed and reflexes in that he cut down dozens of ice spikes with his sword," Liban Crocell, the other knight in Sairaorg's peerage explained in detail. "Not only that, but in the end, he managed to catch Master off-guard by getting within his guard with some burst of speed. It looked fast enough to be teleportation since I couldn't see him move at all."

"I would go as far as to say he was easily as strong as an Ultimate-Class Devil, Lady Phenex," Kuisha claimed, surprising the noble woman.

The noble wife and mother surely didn't think they'd go as far as to say that much. There were very few people who could match an Ultimate-class devil, the same as the Satans. "He must've been a high-class angel or F-angel. How many wings did he have?"

"Well, at first, Sairaorg thought he was a Nekomata because the man had slitted pupils, but near the end, he revealed to have only one black-feathered wing on his right side."

That news surely wasn't what she was expecting. She was thinking it was probably Kokabiel, given the man's love for battle and brutality, but this Sephiroth having just _one_ wing?! Such a low-class F-angel shouldn't have even been able to touch someone like Sairaorg. This strange news will certainly cause some confusion and commotion when the high nobles and families involved with the incident, as well as the Satans and Lucifer-sama hears about it.

"Oh, Lady Phenex, this Sephiroth-teme said something that troubled us," Kuishi said, catching the woman before she left the room. "He said that he and his mother would become the rulers of this world, and that he'll cut down anyone who stands against him. He says he always goes by 'The One-Winged Angel.' I hope this helps."

Nodding in deep thought, the Phenex left to contemplate and make sense of all that she'd heard. A loud, boisterous yell thundered throughout her home, shaking some of the furniture that lied about. She rubbed her temples. The first of many have already shown up. How did word travel so fast?

* * *

**A/N: That's the chapter for ya. So, how did ya like Sephiroth's first impression? Was it too much? Not enough? With killing a few people, the Nightmare has already changed the future of the HSDxD universe. What will he do next chapter? What will happen when Jenova gets healed by Ophis? Got questions, I've got answers. Please review for me or send them via PM. Thank you.**

**Now, some of you are gonna think I've made Sephiroth too powerful, but if you read wiki, it says this. " _Advent Children_ producer Yoshinori Kitase has said, "Sephiroth's existence and will is extremely powerful. There is nothing stronger, nothing above him." Several characters besides Cloud have been able to battle Sephiroth competently, but with most of these fights it is implied he held back or was not fighting at his full potential."**

**Ta-daa!**

**Now, I would like to have your opinion on this. Should Sephiroth have a Longinus? I looked in the wiki and there's actually a Longinus named 'Sephiroth's Grail.' CAN YOU BELIEVE THE IRONY! Maybe he should have it, afterall, it's got his name on it.**

**Also, I will be using Sephiroth's spells to give him an edge in magic abilities. In FFVII, the spells were labeled in numerical order from weakest to strongest.**

**ex. Fire1, Fire2, Fire, and Fire4 being the the strongest. Quake would be earth element. Here's the naming system, and since Sephiroth doesn't like weakness, he will not care to use to weaker versions of the spells.**

**Fire element- Firaga-lvl3, and Firaja-lvl4**

**Water element-Waterga-lvl3, and Waterja-lvl4**

**Thunder element (Same as shooting lightning bolts from sky or hands)-Thundaga-lvl3, and Thundaja-lvl4**

**Ice element-Blizzaga-lvl3, and Blizzaja-lvl4**

**Earth element-Quakega-lvl3, and Quakeja-lvl4**

**Shadow Flare-Can summon up to three dozen highly-explosive orbs of dark energy, which is similar to demonic energy, in a spread out formation on the battlefield. With just a thought command, he can send these orbs towards multiple targets at will. They are tough to destroy, so the easiest way to get rid of them all is to attack Sephiroth to make him lose focus on them.**

**Octaslash- An 8-hit combination of lightning quick slashes.**

**Heartless Angel (hasn't been seen yet)- Ejects a black, ghost-like apparition of himself from his body that chases down an opponent. It's intangible and the only way to stop it is to force Sephiroth to lose focus on it by attacking him. It doesn't kill on impact, rather it weakens the target to an almost incapacitated or death state.**

**Meteor/Meteorain- Summons a meteor/meteors from a different dimension. Nobody short of a Dragon King can stop one of these, so it's best to just not get in its way.**

**These are his skills, most/if not all, I got from the FFwiki.**


	3. Yah, I finally updated!

**A/N: Really people? REALLY? You've got to be kidding me!**

**I've only posted two chapters, and since then, I've gotten 11 reviews, 23 favs, 16alerts, and three author favs & alerts. THIS IS RIDICULOUS! Honestly, I've never experienced this sort of feedback with so little having been shown for it. Thank you all very much. I'm sorry I couldn't have gotten this out sooner, but school and writer's block were some mean bitches.**

**I've happy and very thankful for the attention my last chapter received. I just want to let you all know that college has been keeping me very busy, ESPECIALLY ENGLISH COMP II! We've got this essay we have to do, and it involves SO MUCH CRAP THAT I CAN'T POSSIBLY IMAGINE MAKING USE OF IN THE FUTURE! And it's kicking my ass. Anyway, I'm sorry for complaining on here, but it's affecting my writing so freakin' much.**

**Anyway, me and some special guests will be going over some reviews here. If you gave me a long review, then for chapter's sake, I'll just explain it via PM/review response.**

**This first one is from Nix's Warden! It says-**

_**"HELL YES THIS IS AWESOME MAN! HA THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR FUCKING WITH SEPHIROTH!"** _

**Thank you and yes, I'm sure we all agree. Don't fuck with Sephiroth when he decides to no longer hold back.**

**The second one is from Acreed.**

_**"This story is very interesting. You've done a good job in portraying Sephiroth's strength and characteristic but I think you need to make Ophis more emotionless and less talkative just like in the novel." **_

**I was unaware of Ophis' amount of dialogue at the time. All I have on her is what the wiki and you guys tell me. I'll keep this in mind. As for her emotions, yes, I'm aware she is the female manifestation of Ulquiorra Schifer and she will only smile like once in a blue moon. Story wise, that's probably the first time she's smiled in centuries, probably more. ALSO, Ophis will be talking more in this chapter then the last one, so I am just warning you. After this chapter, she'll return to saying just a sentence or two and being silent. Sorry for the OOCness.**

** On to the next review! ****The third one is from CrazySasori-"**

**"_Pretty cool man, and so far you've done a good job explaining things and keeping everybody in character. I definitely look forward to_**_** more**.'"_

**Thank you very much.**

** This one is from alternativefuturefan27: '****i will say some words to describe this chapter TOO BADASS Make his costume look like Kingdom Heart 1 or 2 He will have harem of fallen angels? He will double-cross Ophis? He will fuse with Jenova? He will have a heir? UPDATE SOON also one more question will Chuck Norris apear as a miracle?'"**

**Well, I already answered these questions to you in PM. **

**Now, if I didn't get your review on here, it means that I just missed it or I was already past the point of no return. Sorry.**

**Also, someone brought up an interesting point. Ophis was able to make Issei's new body with flesh from the Great Red, so he figured she could do the same for Jenova. However, he thought that Ophis shouldn't have much problem with making Jenova a body since her powers haven't been taken away by Cao Cao. This was a subtle detail that I overlooked, and if it upsets anyone, then I apologize.**

**P.S. Jenova's body will be getting an upgrade, thanks to our favorite emo dragon. Read and find out.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything canon fromm HSDxD or FFVII. Sorry for any OOC.**

* * *

_(Underworld, Phenex Manor, starting off about twenty minutes after the arrival of the first guest) _

The large and luxurious mansion was now a house breaming with tension as devils from several of the strongest families in the 72 Pillars had arrived after becoming aware of the situation that unfolded today. It started when the first person to arrive at the household was none of then the big brother of Zephyrdo. Falbium Asmodeus stormed from his transportation circle, yelling for whoever knew where he brother was. Thankfully, Ruval Phenex, the eldest son of the Phenex children, was able to calm him down to the point where he wouldn't blow the house away.

Ruval was the eldest son and the heir to the clan. He was much more noble-like then he younger brother, Riser, who was the 'poster-child' of the family, having both the clan's immortality and fire manipulation traits, as well as a playboy's face. While Riser was wellknown because of his family and his popularity in the ratings game, Ruval was more known through his relations with the other families of the Underworld, keeping up the family's internal relations while Riser handled the public image.

Asmodeus was still in the dark about what actually happened, only that a messenger had been sent to all families relating to those of the two peerages while briefly telling of the groups' incursion. Needless to say, ALOT of transporation circles began appearing at the entrance of the Phenex home shortly after. After Ruval had managed to calm the Great Satan down, the next ones to show up were none other then Sirzechs Lucifer and his wife/maid/Queen, Grayfia Lucifuge. While Sirzech, the current Lucifer of the Underworld and one of the four Satans, was easily classified as an ultimate-class devil, his wife was one as well, despite her appearance as a voluptuous maid.

Lady and Ruval Phenex were there to greet him immediately.

"Sirzechs-sama, welcome to my family's home," Lady said, bowing respectively. Ruval followed suit, yet the strong aura that the two visitors were giving off was unnerving.

"A pleasure, Lady Phenex, but you understand why we're here,' he said. He was unlike himself. Normally, he's very laidback and aloof, but he was getting straight down to business. Completely understandable in this situation.

"Of course. If you want, I can fill you in on the details." He nodded and began walking down the hall. "Uh, Sirzechs-sama, the medical ward is down this hall," she hesitantly spoke, gesturing to the hall opposite of where he was going. He simply turned around and proceeded down the hall she was pointing to, his stern expression not moving.

'How can he act so casual?' she wondered, a large sweatdrop forming on her features. As she escorted them to the medical ward, Ruval stayed to greet the newer arrivals, these next ones beings the head of the House of Abaddon, Bedeze Abaddon, Kuisha's mother. The heads of the houses of Glasya-Labolas, Sabnock, Andrealphus, Furcas, Crocell, and Bune all showed up within minutes of Sirzechs' arrival.

Back with Lady Phenex, Sirzech, and Grayfia, she was explaining to the pair all that she had been told from Sairaorg's peerage, as well as the conditions of the wounded when they entered and what they were now.

"So, some mysterious swordsman, who appears to be a Fallen Angel, crashed into the middle of a fight b/w them and several Fallen Angels and upon being verbally provoked, attacked and nearly killed several clan heirs, including killing the heir to the Glasya-Labolas Clan? One thing I'm curious about is what business did Sairaorg and Zephyrdo have that far away? Last time I remember, those two didn't get along well."

"Well, I'm not quite sure yet, but it seems the two groups were meeting to discuss the chance of a Rating Game when they were ambushed by a lone group of Fallen Angels," she responded.

Sirzechs accepted it, since it wasn't unheard of for rivalries to meet to discuss fights between each other. He sighed in an attempt to lose some of the stress. The Underworld would know of what'd happened today sooner or later, and they would demand action. It's not a decision he'd be against, but they don't even know who their enemy is or what their real motive is behind this attack.

"I wonder if these people's sudden appearance have anything to do with the anomaly that ripped the sky open earlier? It seems more then just coincidence," he mused.

"What do you think the connection would be, Lucifer-sama?" Grayfia asked, thinking of what the answer could be. While it did seem more then coincidental, what did it mean? They still didn't know WHAT had caused the sky to swell, or what that bright light was, as well as why it suddenly disappeared. Ajuka Beezlebub, one of the Maous, like Sirzechs, was currently trying to figure out just that.

Beezlebub was the brightest scientist afterall, having many patents and useful inventions under his name, one of the biggest being the Evil Piece system.

"I'm not sure," Sirzechs finally admitted. "There are always an infinite number of possibilities of what causes the unexplainable. Who knows, there might not even be any relationship b/w the events today. It was only speculation."

"Well, we will be able to discuss more as the rest of the other families arrive," the Phenex woman said as they arrived at the waiting room of the medical facility. "In the mean time, I'm sure you'd want to hear what the eye witnesses have seen, would you not, Sirzechs-sama?"

He tilted his head in a small bow and took in the conditions of the peerage members around him. While most were clear of any and all major injuries with the phoenix tears, the less severe wounds were fixed with something more necessary. When the young devils finally noticed him, they all were shocked for a brief moment. All at once, they scrambled to stand up and give a low bow.

"Lucifer-sama!"

He waved them off. "How is everyone doing?" he asked, worry as clear as day in his eyes. It'd surprised them by how much he seemed concerned over their well-beings.

"Most of us are fine now," Kuisha said, glancing to the rest of them and receiving affirmative nods. "But, there are a couple of us who are still resting. Sairaorg-sama and Ladora-san's wounds were cured with the phoenix tears, we were told, and Zephyrdo's knight has regained his legs. However, they're currently resting from the physical strain from their battles."

"Well, that's a relief, but I'm aware of the unfortunate death of Zephyrdo himself. Though brash sometimes, he didn't deserve his fate," the Maou explained. "Just know that this event has captured the attention of all the Satans, and the investigation will be at the first on our agenda. We will find this killer and bestow proper judgement." His voice had turned serious and it reassured all of the young devils. "Now, for the investigation's sake, what can you tell of about this man and his companion?"

He pretty much got the image of a man around 6'2 or 6'3 with a long man of silver hair and a eight foot sword that he can summon from thin air. He had a pale skin complexion, likes to smile, and has evil, pale green eyes with slitted pupils. He wears mostly black clothes, with a large, black trench coat with silver shoulder pauldrons and leaves his torso and chest mostly bare. He also has a single, black wing, like that of a Fallen Angel. Not only that, but they gave him a description of some of his skills, both in swordsmanship and magic. This Sephiroth didn't appear to have a sacred gear, but that couldn't be confirmed.

His companion, who he identified as his mother as 'Jenova', looked to be a greyish-colored woman with silver hair and two limbs missing. Nothing else could be learned about her. He thanked the 'kids' for their help and left them to their friends and family who arrived during his interviews. He nodded in satisfaction from all the information he had gotten and would now be able to conduct a more thorough investigation. Bidding his farewells and good wishes, he and Grayfia left the Phenex Manor to visit the military. In less then a week, he'll make sure descriptions of the two strangers would be posted all over the Underworld.

While he's at it.."Honey, when we get the chance, could you go warn my little sister about what has happened? I don't know if this Sephiroth will target more of young devils, but I don't want her to try something foolish should she encounter him."

Grayfia never approved of the affectionate banter her husbanc would make while she was officially on the clock, so to speak. Normally, she'd chatise him while pinching his cheek. It was usually enough to set him straight for the mean time. However, given the topic, she'd let it go..just this once though.

"Of course, Lucifer-sama."

Their travel via the transportation was almost instantaneous and once it had ended, Grayfia and Sirzechs split apart, the former to deliver the message while the Maou went about his own business.

* * *

(D_imensional Gap)_

A rip in space opened, and out from it came a young white girl with black hair. Ophis, the Dragon God, looked upon her surroundings with an unintested expression. Seconds later, Sephiroth stepped out of the rift with his mother's body in his arms. His expression was probably the exact opposite.

The first thing he did was blink about a dozen times and use one of his hands to shield his eyes. The only way he could explain his surroundings was that it was like he was inside a klaidescope. The entire environment was nothing but a mixture of different shapes and colors which made things disorienting.

"Not exactly what I would consider tolerable," Sephiroth commented. He just didn't like the chaoticness all around him. The colors were an eye-sore.

"Nothing I can do about it," Ophis responded back. "Besides, it's quiet and desolate, just the way I like it." He didn't comment anymore as he followed the human-lookin' dragoness for what felt like hours in total silence. Apparently, this girl didn't talk as much as he first thought. While she would talk, it seemed to hated to.

"He's near," she said. Not a moment later, the 'Great Red', a name Sephiroth thought was most definitely fitting for the giant western dragon, flew into view. He was coming closer, but he didn't appear to be coming to them exactly.

Sephioth was amazed by the shear size of the dragon. Its size was far greater then any of the dragon creatures from his world. In fact, this dragon was quite possibly the size of one of the Weapons, if not bigger. Like its name says, the dragon was massive and red, with wings spreading hundreds of feet out and a noticeable horn protruding from its forehead.

Surprisingly, the dragon was humming loudly to itself as it flew across the vastness of the Dimensional Gap.

'So this is who I agreed to help kill. The time may not be now, but I have to say that I'm looking forward to testing the abilities and strength of the greatest of these dragons.'

"Come. It's time to fix your mother," Ophis said. With that, she gathered some power and shot it up at the nearby dragon, striking it with enough force to not be threatening, but enough to get its attention. Sephiroth felt like sweat dropping at the casual greeting.

'If that's how she says hello to most people, then I guess I'm quite fortunate,' he thought humourously.

As expected, the Great Red banked left and headed towards them. Sephiroth won't deny that having the massive dragon fly at them was slightly intimidating. Sure, he's face monsters almost as large, but while all that power that Ophis had demonstrated a little while ago so effortlessly is suppose to be weaker compared to that of this other dragon, then he had every right to be unnerved. For his and all his fans' sake, he was, but only slightly.

"Yo, what's up, midget!? You get off on shootin' me or something?"

Sephiroth's left brow shot up as he registered just what this dragon had said, but more importantly, how he had said it. Honestly, he sounded like a deliquent teenager or something.

"You make too much noise," Ophis responded unhesitantly.

"Whatever, It." A vein was just barely, JUST BARELY, visible on her forehead from the dragon's remark, though her facial expression didn't change at all. Sephiroth, though he missed the tickmark on her, was pondering the meaning of 'It.' Wasn't it obvious to the dragon that Ophis was female?

She didn't show any sign of anger from the strange comment. "Whatever, you loud, obnoxious lizard. I'm calling in that favor," she declared, not wasting time with anymore chit-chat.

The Great Red's eyes slightly widen before returning to their normal size. The debt was obviously something he'd not expected or he probably forgotten about.

"Fine, what do you need, Ophis?" She motioned Sephiroth forward.

"I'm going to fix this woman's body, and I'm going to use a little bit of your flesh to do it."

'What? Use the Great Red's flesh?' Sephiroth wondered if it was anything like what he did before with Mother's body. Surprisingly, the giant dragon didn't argue, though he did ask a strange question.

"Is that all?" he asked as he lowered himself to the ground. "I would've expected something more dire from you. You could have just made her a new body yourself if you wanted to."

Again, a comment that brings up many more questions Sephiroth has about this Dragon God. She didn't appear at all impedded by the question as she jumped onto his back with no effort.

"I like cutting your body up," she commented before doing just that. She raised her hand and effortlessly slashed off a portion of skin and meat from the Great Red's scaley hide with a series of swift hand slashes. She pulled off a piece of flesh and scales about the size of a blanket, about a 6ft x 6ft square, and hoped down. Sephiroth noted the wound healing extremely fast.

The Great Red didn't show any discomfort from the mutilation, but he did grumble something about sadistic emo girls which Ophis completely ignored. She laid the cut out in front of Sephiroth and instructed him to lay his mother on it. Jenova let out a few murmurs as the physical contact was broken from him.

"Don't worry, Mother. All will be better soon," he comforted, laying her gently on the carved-out dragon flesh.

Ophis immediately began the process, which included knowledge that Sephiroth couldn't imagine, even with his vast intelligence. With several hand waves in circular patterns over Jenova, black streams of the dragon god's magic flowed from her hands into his mother's body. When contact was made, his saw Ophis' eyes widen significantly for a moment before returning to their normal bored look. It was like she'd discovered some deep secret that she had never imagined. Though her expression was back to (her) normal, he could faintly see genuine curiosity in them.

Ophis magic soon began to cloud visibility of the 'Calamity' from Sephiroth but he could see that her body was jerking within the gas-like cloud. There were several sickening sounds of flesh tearing that would have made most undisciplined people grossed out. The process and the sounds lasted for a decent five minutes before the noises ceased, yet the current of magic continued to pour from the girl's hands.

"She was very weak," Ophis announced calmly. "Her body's finished. I'm restoring her energy to its maximum. Her energy is strange, but it's no problem." Her face showed some concentration, but this seemingly amazing feat proved to be a tiny hint of her abilities. "There. She's ready."

Sephiroth caught himself letting out a breath he didn't know he had held. It was very rare that he would be in a situation where his breath would catch. His cold eyes stared over where his mother was as the last of Ophis' magick retreated back into her body. When he had a clear, uninterrupted view, only a few words could come to mind when he saw his mother's 'new' body.

Slowly, the woman got to her knees then to her feet. She stood straight up on shaky legs and reached out to him. Sephiroth offered Jenova his body for support as she accustomed herself to her new vessel.

"What kind of things did you do to her body?" the son asked curiously. Ophis huffed and began calling out the list of things she'd done.

"I hate talking this much," she started off, shooting him with an annoyed glare. She pointed first to Jenova's legs. To make the description go by faster, Jenova's body was no longer a pale-grey, but a little darker shade to it. Her body was still that of a voluptuous woman's, though.

"Your mother's legs are now much more stronger and the muscles more flexible and less likely to tear. Her skin is also tougher, a trait from this big dummy's skin." She threw a thumb back up at the large dragon without even looking at him.

The Great Red acted offended. "Rude, much?"

She ignored him again and pointed to Jenova's torso, gesturing from her pubic region to the level below her generous bust. The skin color was the same, though there were areas where it seemed darker and slicker. He looked more closely and noticed a pattern on her skin that resembled the scales of a snake or dragon. These areas were placed symmetically over her body: the navel region between her legs, over her curvacious bottom, a few strips spaced out that went vertically along her sides. "Basically the same thing with the legs applies to the rest of her body. The skin is also flame resistant and has some magic resistance thanks to the scales."

'hmm, a very useful trait,' Sephiroth thought appraisingly.

"Next," pointing to Jenova's chest area, which was mostly skin while the smooth scales appeared over her mammary glands (nipples) and the underside of her breasts. The breasts didn't sway much, only a little bit, and the skin seemed to be responsible for that and was supporting them like low-gravity. "Same goes for her chest region, though while the scales and skin are smooth, they're much stronger to protect the lungs and heart. Both organs are much stronger and resistant to most poisons."

The arms were no different then the legs, save for patches of scales that were on the back of her hands, those hands ending in finger claws, and underneath her arms. There was nothing special as well about her head and neck, just some scaley regions along the sides of her neck over where her carotid arteries would be and along the sides of her face, just infront of her ears. Her hair was still the same as well, though it went to her lower back now.

His mother's eyes were still that vibrant pink, and along her body, one could easily see some of her arteries and veings glowing a pink hue wherever they were at, the pulsating light keeping in rythym with her heartbeat. It wasn't a constant glow, but one where the light would travel quickly through the veins and arteries while the rest would remain unnoticeable until the next heartbeat.

"Why are her veins like that?"

She looked at him with the same bored expression and shrugged her shoulders. "I thought it would look cool."

Anybody else who wasn't Sephiroth would have face-vaulted or sweat-dropped when she said that. Sephiroth felt like rubbing his temples cuz he was expecting some actual constructive or useful purpose.

"Now, her natural senses are enhanced, as well as her magical and physical abilities," she finished up.

Jenova had already felt her strength return and was standing with no support and listening to these things. She found herself curious about her new body, as well as everything else. These worlds, those devils, that dragon, this young girl would is supposedly the most powerful dragon, second only to this Great Red. She wanted to know if there were any other worlds paralleling this one and what types of creatures that were roaming them. She was also curous as to where exactly they had been sent and how long they've been comatosed.

Trying to find out more of her body, she felt an unusual presence behind her, like an extra limb. To her, it felt like one of her tentacles when she'd fought those damn insects, but while those felt like she had little control, this feeling she had felt like she had complete control of. Curious, she maneuvered the object around and was slightly surprised to see a tail. She saw her son's eyes widen but he didn't say anything.

She brought a portion of the tail and grasped it. Judging from how much slack she had, she'd guess the tail was probably four to five feet long. It was about three inches thick at the base and slowly narrowed to about one-in-a-half inches at the tip, which looked to be barbed. The surface of the tail was a combination of smooth scales and skin, then hard scales for the last 20inches of her appendage.

"I don't understand why she has a tail. She must've taken traits from the dragon's DNA." Sephiroth nodded in understanding, somewhat okay with the appendage while Jenova was liking it as well.

She suddenly felt light-headed for a moment, a feeling she knew she knew but couldn't remember. The feeling went as soon as it came and her mind seemed clearer and sharper then before. She opened her mouth as she looked like she was literally looking for words to say something. She was use to talking through telepathy, not through her vocal cords. With some effort, she was finally wrestled out the words.

"**Th-thank yu-yu-you.**" She felt the feeling again in her head and she found herself trying to talk to Sephiroth. He was unaware of the befuddlement in her mind and was looking at her expectantly? Hopefully? Anxiously?

**"Son." **

She found herself compelled to embrace him. With the memories and fears from the moment before they were sucked into the hole, she seemed to realize for the first time since their arrival that she was alive and her son was standing with her, healthy and alive. With strength that surprised Sephiroth, she pulled him into her body and embraced him.

Sephiroth was shocked by the contact. He stood there looking down at the head of his mother as she embraced him, a look of relief and happiness adorning her features. Slowly, with some uneasiness, he obeyed the strange instinct to return the hug. His arms slowly wrapped themselves around Jenova's shoulders. It felt foreign, this contact. Normally, if he was ever in this position, it was because he was about to snap the neck of an enemy or the person slid along his Masamune in a forward slump and was gripping him tightly as the life left their body.

This time, it felt...

...nice.

Neither one of them said anything in that rare moment of emotion and vulnerability, but both seemed to be able to feel all the emotions and hear all the thoughts of the other. For the first time in many years, he gave a smile, not one born from servicing his sadistic nature, but from actual happiness. He hasn't felt this feeling in a while, so it would take alot of time to get use to. As if sensing the discomfort in his thoughts, his mother broke from the hug and looked up at him with her ethereal pink eyes.

She was smiling as well.

Ophis watched, unaffected by this extremely rare display, yet she found herself interested in the type of relationship this mother and son had. They acted like they'd never hugged before. Though she never participated in any of those acts, she'd seen them plenty of times during her travels to the other worlds, either in comraderie or in the passions of love or sorrow. These two didn't act like that.

When they finally broke apart, she got their attention again. "I kept my word, Sephiroth."

Before she could even ask, he nodded his head. "And I will keep mine, though I'm right to assume now isn't the time." He sent a glance up at the Great Red who was nearby, humming to himself, then to the questioning face of is mother. "Mother, Ophis restored your body. I promised to help her kill the G...someone,'' he barely corrected himself since their target was not 20yards away. "She'd agreed to help us become the rulers of these new worlds."

**"Very well, Son. Let us start from the beginning**," she said in a much more clearer tone, her voice like silk against his ears. She must be getting use to talking vocally now.

"Yes, now isn't the time," Ophis confirmed. "I know you aren't strong enough, but you have the potential to be, which is why I asked you. Follow me, I'll introduce you to some of the Khaos team."

She looked up at the dragon beside her and rolled her eyes. She waved her hand in front of her, tearing open another hole. Jenova was unnerved by the sight of the hole at first glance, a brief flashback of the hole that could have sent her and her son to their doom popping into her vision, but feeling the soft press of her son's hand against her back helped her crush all doubt. They followed the gothic lolita-dressed girl into the unknown, possibly to go back to the Underworld.

* * *

**I know it's shorter then what you all were probably hoping, but I've got tests in college and I've got two other stories that I need to update. Plus, two of my favorite people, the twin angeloids, Harpy and Gamma, from Sora no Otoshimono just died in the manga so I'm feeling really down about that. Think of it as grieving. For me, that is the equivalent of Sakura dying for any Naruto fans, Byakuya, Shunsui, Jushiro, or Rukia dying for bleach fangirls, even though I'm obviously a straight, masculine male, or Moka or Mizore dying for any Rosario+Vampire fans. You get the jist.**

**Again, I'm sorry for any OOCness, I'm doing all I can with the info from the wiki. Also, Jenova will develop more vocals, so she isn't gonna be the mute psychopath from FFVII. Why did I give Jenova a tail? Because tails are awesome! Tails that can spear through armor and slice open victims or choke them is even better! **

**If anyone can guess why she's starting to talk, and why her body is the way it is when Issei's body didn't turn out like that, then I'll write out any scene they want, but only if it parallels the plot. I can't write something like Sephiroth killing the male protagonists and banging Rias and Akeno or something of that nature. If you keep with together with the plot of this story, then I'll try to do it.**

**LASTLY, IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ. **

**Since Sephiroth and Jenova are starting their plan again, they've obviously figured out their mistakes if Sephiroth not wanting to spare some delinquent demons their lives is any indication. I'm heavily considering the possibility of him putting together his own personal doom squad. The hook: these characters can be from other factions and universes! I read in the HSDxD wiki that one fella in the Khaos Bridage has a Longinus with the ability to rip holes into other dimensions. See where this is going with this? **

**Please let me know how you feel about this, and if you like it, send me possible characters to use via PM. There will be ten openings. I won't accept them through reviews because I know that that will piss off some of these cyber-dicks who are a stickler for all the rules and would report my story. Also, let me know how you feel about any pairings in this story.**

**Thank you and sorry for the long update period. Please review and tell me your thoughts.**


	4. Sephiroth's team: Final Draft!

** ATTENTION EVERYONE. UPDATED LIST! LIST IS FINALIZED!**

**The list will go like this. (Name)- (Universe)- (Combat Specialties) - (Combat Roles)**

**Close-combat means fighting within 20ft of someone with any bladed or non-projectile weaponry. If I put Close-combat, it's a combination of technique and swordsmanship. **

**Technique fighters are anyone with special powers concerning their close or mid-ranged weaponry.**

**Swordsmanship includes swords, scythes, knives, whips, gauntlets, hand-to-hand, claws**

**Gunslinger is kinda obvious- anybody who uses any sort of firearms or range weapons**

**Dark mages are people with adept magic abilities, mainly offensive spells. **

**Support mages are people with abilities such as healing, attack and defense buffering, and wide-ranged defensive magics.**

**Berserkers are people who will love to get up in your face and pound your skull to dust, and are noted for their massive attack and defense capabilities. If they are 'part-berserker' then it means that they have some of the attributes of the berserker class.**

**Tactical Espionage (Spy/Scout/Assassins/Saboteurs) are people who are very well-versed in these sort of things. They're sneaky, stealthy, quick, silent, agile, etc. I can't get any simpler than that.**

**Lieutenants are the authority figures of the group underneath Sephiroth himself. He'll appoint these positions to people who're capable and experienced in effectively leading, maintaining order within groups, and will follow his orders to the letter. There's a maximum of four spots, two for each gender.**

**Sergeants are just underneath Lieutenants. While the lieutenants handle the group as a whole, they will delegate authority to the Sergeants as small team leaders or small operation leaders. Maximum of eight spots, two for each Lt.**

**Bodyguard- I'm not saying Sephiroth is afraid for his life now, but he'll assign four to five people to stalk his every move, either by his side or in the shadows. They will never lose sight of him and if he deems necessary, will use them as his personal attack squad. They are his Punishment Force.**

New and Improved List

_Primaries not counted_

**Ophis** – Highschool DxD

**Raynare** – Highschool DxD

**Jenova** - Final Fantasy VII

_Primary Members: These primary members are the ones whom are recruited by Sephiroth. They are his team and anybody that joins Sephiroth because of one of these members will be classified as secondary._

Females

**Welveria** – Queen's Blade – Support and Dark Mage, Sergeant

**Alleyne** – Queen's Blade – Close Combat, Sergeant

**White Rock Shooter** (**Sing** **Love**) – BRS – Gunslinger, Close Combat, Dark Mage, Bodyguard, Lieutenant

**Black Rock Shooter** (**Insane** **Black** **Rock** **Shooter**) – BRS – Gunslinger, Close Combat, Dark Mage, Berserker, Bodyguard

**Masane** – Witchblade – Close Combat, part-Berserker

**Mir (Jacqli)** – Ar Tonelico – Close Combat, Support Mage, Lieutenant

**Ethereal** **Queen** – Star Ocean: The Last Hope – Close Combat, Dark Mage, part-Berserker, Bodyguard

**Sarah** **Kerrigan** (**Queen** **of** **Blades**) – StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm – Close Combat, Support and Dark Mage, part-Berserker, Lieutenant

**Shiro** (**Wretched** **Egg**) – Deadman Wonderland – Close Combat, Dark Mage, part-Berserker, Bodyguard

**Minerva** – Fairy Tail – Close Combat, Dark Mage

Males

**Coyote** **Starrk** – Bleach – Gunslinger, Close Combat, Dark Mage, Sergeant

**Grimmjow** **Jaegerjaquez** – Bleach – Close Combat, Dark Mage

**Alucard** – Hellsing Ultimate – Gunslinger, Close Combat, Tactical Espionage

**Mockingbird** (**Toto**) – Deadman Wonderland – Close Combat, Support and Dark Mage

**Berserker Heracles** – Fate Stay/Night – Close Combat, Berserker

**Vergil** – Devil May Cry 3 – Close Combat, Lieutenant

**Nero the Sable** – Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus – Gunslinger, Close Combat, Tactical Espionage, Sergeant

**Weiss** **the** **Immaculate** – Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus – Gunslinger, Close Combat, Lieutenant

**Xigbar** – Kingdom Hearts II – Gunslinger, Close Combat, Tactical Espionage, Sergeant

**Pain** – Naruto Shippuden – Close Combat, Support and Dark Mage, Sergeant

_Secondary (Cameo) Members: These secondary characters are noteworthy but not part of the team, but they join Sephiroth anyway due to own reasons._

**Shiori** – Witchblade – Close Combat, part-Berserker

**Lilynette Gingerbuck** – Bleach – Starrk's counterpart

**Irma** – Queen's Blade – Close Combat, Tactical Espionage

**Alma** – F.E.A.R. – Support and Dark Mage

**Gyokuro** **Shuzen** – Rosario + Vampire – Close Combat, Support Mage

**Medusa** **Rider** – Fate Stay/Night – Close Combat, Dark Mage

**Acnologia** – Fairy Tail – Close Combat, Dark Mage, War Beast

**Nowa** – Queen's Blade – Adopted daughter of Alleyne

**Berial** – Devil May Cry 3 – Close Combat, Dark Mage

**Belloc** - Firebreather - Close combat, Dark Mage, War Beast

**Clare **- Claymore - Close Combat

**Azul the Cerulean - **FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus - Close Combat, Gunslinger, part-war beast

**Rosso the Crimson** - FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus - Close Combat

**Elgar the Regicide - **Magna Carta II - Close Combat, Dark Mage, Support Mage (for himself)

**The Captain - **Hellsing Ultimate - Close combat, Dark Mage, Gunslinger

**Zekrom** - Pokemon Black & White - Close Combat, Dark Mage, War Beast

**Deathwing **- World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - Close Combat, Dark Mage, War Beast

**Primordus** - Guild Wars - Close Combat, Dark Mage, War Beast

**Berserker, Lancelot of the Lake** - Fate Zero - Berserker, Close-Combat, Gunslinger, Support Mage (for himself)

**Caster** - Fate/Stay Night - Support Mage, Dark Mage

**Jack of Blades** - Fable - Close-Combat, Dark Mage, Support Mage

_Teams: Teams will often be formed to handle certain missions by Sephiroth. These teams will range from 3 to 5 people and will be grouped based on their specialties, some merely built for one type of mission while others made with multiple purposes. Listed by each member will be the reason they are paired together. Assault classes are groups that specialize in large scale battles and raids. Close Combat is on a much smaller scale. World Shatterers...I think you get the meaning. Scouts/Stealth and Reconnaissance are just that, people who get in-get out quickly either gathering information or disrupting enemy operations._

Team #1 Specialty: Assault and Close Combat

**Berserker Heracles** – Power, Strength, Surprising speed, Ruthless aggression, Absolute loyalty, 13 lives, Immunity to any previous causes of death, Near-impenetrable skin

Leader: **Mir** (**Jacqli**) – 400 years worth of combat experience and intelligence, songs capable of swaying the moods and desires of enemies and allies, only one capable of keeping Heracles on a leash.

**Rosso the Crimson **- Superhuman speed, strength, and agility, as well as durability.

**Zekrom** - Unparallel lightning affinity, fast flight speed and maneuverability, very durable

**Deathwing - **Ancient dragon with world burning power, smart and powerful, also makes great transportation

Team #2 Specialty: Assault

(King:)** Grimmjow** **Jaegerjaquez** – Loves anything to do with violence and killing, excellent close combat fighter with impressive speed and durability.

Leader: **Welveria** – Master of dark magics, including raising the dead.

**Alma** – Psychotic spirit with unmatched powers in telekinesis and pyrokinesis, capable of casting wide-area distortions and illusions, transparency, no known way to die, hates humans; just her aura is capable of turning normal beings into psychopathic lunatics.

**Elgar -** Genocidal super soldier, loyal to a fault, master swordsman and possesses some form of telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers, possesses a simple defensive buff spell, extremely high stamina and vitality

Team #3 Specialty: Scout and Close Combat

**Coyote** **Starrk** – Outstanding speed and capable swordsman, eyes are like high-speed cameras, nearly unrivaled deductive capabilities in combat, and overwhelming when in Resurreccion, very lazy.

**Lilynette** **Gingerbuck** – Hyperactive motivator for Starrk, the other half of his spirit, isn't much of a fighter, Starrk's zanpakutou,

Leader: **Alleyne** – 1000yr old Elvin battle master and instructor, excellent close range fighter, she often critiques one's fighting techniques and she loathes laziness, excellent tactician and leader.

**Nowa** – Relies on and follows Alleyne, capable of handling average foes in close combat, besides that, Alleyne will not put her in unnecessary danger.

Team #4 Specialty: Close Combat

**Masane** – Incredible agility and durability, Masochistic

**Caster **- Incredibly smart and powerful mage, very tactical and sound mind

**Shiori** – Excellent agility and durability, Sadistic

**Berial** – Excellent durability with plenty of knockout power, both close range and mid-range

Leader: **Vergil** – Incredible agility, strength, durability, speed, and regenerative abilities, strong leadership skills

Team #5 Specialty: Large-scale Assault

**Minerva** – Outstanding mage (War God Magic) capable of space/time manipulation

Leader: **Weiss the** **Immaculate** – Incredible speed, strength, and agility. Excellent leadership qualities

**Belloc **– Superbly durable, massive size with disproportionate speed, thousands of years of knowledge, wisdom, and battle tactics

**Pain** – Excellent strength, speed, and agility, God-like magic abilities over gravity, life, and death

Team #6 Specialty: Large-scale Assault

Leader (officially): **Alucard** – Vampire with superhuman speed, strength, and practically immortal in every sense of the word

Leader (in her head): **Gyokuro** **Shuzen** – Super-vampire among her fellow kind, ruthless and tactical genius, incredible strength and speed and sensory abilities

**The Captain **- Lycan with superhuman strength, durability, reflexes, agility, speed, and incredibly long life span, can transform into a large white, phantom wolf and has intangibility powers, calm and collected, very loyal and honorable.

**Berserker, Lancelot **- Ability to become a master with any weapon he picks up or deems as a weapon, ranging from guns, blades, even jets, relentless and very durable, can take hits with little to no effect, able to corrupt any weapon he touches

Team #7 Specialty: World Shatterers

Leader (officially): **White Rock Shooter** – Incredible durability, strength, and speed, with firepower enough to level cities. Has experience leading massive forces on a global scale.

(Doesn't give a fuck): **Black Rock Shooter** – Silent and doesn't complain, brutally efficient. Incredible durability, speed, and strength. INSANE state increases her stats 10x fold.

Leader (in her head): **Ethereal Queen** – Immeasurable powers concerning anything to do with destroying things, has super regenerative and durability and strength attributes. Destructive powers on a global scale. Thousands of years of battle experience.

Leader (by assumption): **Sarah Kerrigan** - Immeasurable powers with psionics (form of telekinesis), incredibly durable, strong, and athletic. Has excellent leadership skills over an army of billions +.

(Puts up with the 'leaders'): **Acnologia - **Dragon of the Apocalypse, incredible durability, strength, flight speed, regeneration, and magic potential. Hundreds of years of battle experience.

(Puts up with Acnologia) **Primordius -** Massive and powerful dragon capable of setting worlds on fire, untold strength

Team #8 Specialty: Stealth and Reconnaissance

(Doesn't care): **Shiro (Wretched Egg) **– Destructive powers on a country-wide scale, especially with techtonics, master manipulator of blood, incredibly sadistic, superb strength, speed, agility, and regenerative abilities. Practically immortal.

**Irma** – A decade of experience being a highly skilled spy and assassin.

Leader (officially): **Xigbar** – Master manipulation of space and time, excellent marksman, surprisingly high intelligence regarding battle tactics and espionage.

**Nero the Sable** - Highly skilled assassin and spy, manipulates darkness, superhuman strength and high durability

Team #9 Specialty: Close Combat

**Mockingbird** - Highly intelligent, capable of copying the abilities of any being by sampling their flesh. Possibilities are endless.

**Clare** - Excellent swords(wo)man and fiercely loyal, experience tactician and soldier with superhuman strength and skills

**Medusa Rider **- Superhuman attributes, capable of turning weaker opponents into stone with just a gaze, very level headed

**Azul the Cerulean **- Incredible strength and durability, capable of shapeshifting into a large, armored behemoth, surprisingly crafty for one of his apparent demeanor.

Leader: **Jack of Blades** - Superhuman physical attributes, masterful swordsmanship of any blade, cunning and ambitious


	5. Taste of Despair

**A/N: Hey, folks, the latest chapter's finally here. I've been barely any feedback from the 135 people who visit this story, save for a faithful few. I'm not mad, but it's kinda disheartening. I mean, I got eight reviews within the first few days after posting chapter 2, then less then that combined for ch.3 and the note. I hope I'm not losing any of my readers, cuz that would suck more then having someone pee in my cheerios. **

**Well, let's recap. Sephiroth and Jenova have arrived into the Highschool DxD universe after he tore through their reality/dimension with his super nova attack. Sephiroth whoops abunch of devil peerage booty when he's attacked, forcing them to retreat to lick their wounds. Ophis makes a deal with him to fix his mother if he'd help her get rid of Great Red. They travel to the Dimensional Gap where Ophis calls in a favor from the Great Red and takes a piece of his flesh to craft Jenova a new body. With her end of the deal taken care of, now it's only up to Sephiroth to carry his part, but it's too soon for that, so Ophis is going to show him some of the Khaos Brigade, whose original purpose was to slain the Great Red in the first place.**

**Now here we are, Sephiroth meets the Hero Faction.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters depicted in this story, nor any of the future characters from other universes.**

* * *

_(Human world-Undisclosed Location)_

When the three stepped from the portal, their senses were relieved with the blessing of less irritating sights. They looked upon a world that looked no different then Sephiroth's home planet. There were trees, various forms of wildlife, blue skies. The only difference was that they were on a roof top of some building at the edge of a small town. Most of the buildings were one storied while the two to three storied buildings were clustered near the center of the town.

Sephiroth noted that the buildings looked about as advanced as those in Midgar. There are light poles scattered throughout the neigborhood he was in, which was sixteen houses grouped into four groups of four, so he figured he was in a suburb or some sorts. The biggest difference he noticed from Midgar was that even with this massive town, there were no mako reactors siphoning the lifestream from the planet.

'Perhaps these humans are much smarter then the ones from my planet,' he mused. Jenova looked on at the surrounding land with much interest, thinking of things along the same line but not the same things.

Ophis lept off of the roof and onto the streets below. There wasn't anyone around her for some reason. Perhaps this part of the town was abandoned for deconstruction or something. Sephiroth and Jenova followed as well, Sephiroth landing gracefully while his mother landed in a crouching position, like a predator. She probably just wasn't use to moving around in her body yet.

The three super-powered beings casually walked down the empty street for several minutes before they came upon a large werehouse. Without even knocking, she pushed the large doors open and stepped inside, her two companions following suit. The inside of the werehouse was lit up with ceiling lights, illuminating the large, open space very well.

As the walked in, all three sensed a presence near them. From the shadows above, a battle cry was screamed as a large man fell upon them. Sephiroth was quick to hop to the side and let the man crash into the ground. The force of it cratered the ground where they had all stood moments ago. Before the smoke even cleared, the man charged out of the hole straight Ophis. However, when he actually recognized who she was, he put on his Flintstone brakes and ceased his hostilities.

"Ophis-sama! I didn't recognize you. My apologies," he spoke with a boisterous and loud voice. He bowed his head a couple of times before standing up straight. Sephiroth saw the man was a little under six feet tall, shorter then himself, but had a well-built body, like that of a body builder. Brown, curly hair covered his head and his eyes were those of hazel.

"Whatever, Heracles. Where's Cao Cao? We've got new help."

The man, Heracles, looked over at Sephiroth and Jenova with a critical eye. Already he was trying to judge their strengths. "He's here, Ophis-sama. Who are these two? They don't look like much."

Jenova glared at the human who was mocking her and her son, rage boiling up inside her as memories of those humans and animals defeating her. Sephiroth wasn't happy either, but he put his famous smirk in place and it did its job.

"What's with that arrogant smirk, punk? How'bout I rip it off your face?" Heracles shouted irately.

Sephiroth closed his eyes as if in thought before opening them and responding, "Hmmph...come and try."

The amusement was heavy in his voice and it did a damn fine job of goading the human into charging...unknowingly right into an invisible barrier. The result was a loud thud and cracking noise that almost made Sephiroth want to wince. Heracles stumbled backwards on wobbly feet before falling on his butt.

He wasn't knocked out but dazed as he shook his head to clear the fuzziness out of his vision. Alongside that, Sephiroth and Jenova were curious about the magical barrier and who casted it. The barrier looked similar to a Protect spell that they're familiar with. They got their answer when a young man with unruly black hair and glasses walk out from the side of the room.

"Honestly, Heracles, didn't you hear Ophis-sama say they were new recruits?" The brute grumbled before getting to his feet and stalking off by the new person's side, not wanting to be near the silver-haired bastard.

"Georg, where's Cao Cao?" Ophis asked.

"Ah, right here, Ophis-sama!" another young man called out. Sephiroth noted that this Cao Cao was human as well. Jenova was sick of them but kept it to herself for now, though no one better try to pick a fight with her or she'll feel obliged to consume them.

This man, Cao Cao, was considered to be handsome by this world's standards, with short black hair and bangs that swept over his forehead. He was wearing some strange preppy shirt and the bottom half of his clothing being similar to the garbs of the Wutai Clan in the far West of his planet. It instantly reminded Sephiroth of that little ninja girl from Cloud's group, Yuffie.

"Cao Cao, I met these two in the Underworld. Sephiroth," she introduced with a hand gesture towards the One-winged angel, "-and Jenova, his mother," she finished, pointing at the strange looking woman.

Cao Cao, Heracles, and Georg immediately started blushing and even had to keep a nose bleed in check when they noticed that Jenova was actually beautiful on the eyes, if one had a fetish for women with tails and some scales, and that she was totally naked!

"Ah-agh, Jenova-san, perhaps you would like some clothes," Georg offered shyly.

Jenova understood what he asked and looked over her own body, noticing her nudeness but didn't really feel any need for it. Plus, she would not wear anything a _human_ had worn. "**No, I require none."**

The three guys' noses were under alot of pressure from her response. Thankfully, her scales covered her nipples and snatch or the dams would have bursted. As Sephiroth, Jenova, and Ophis watched their reactions, they all were thinking the similar things. 'What a strange reaction/**What is wrong with** **them?/**weirdos.'

After some bit of effort, Cao Cao regained his composure and put on an earnest smile. "Right, I'm sorry for our reactions with no respect for your habits, Jenova-san."

'There's that suffix again,' Sephiroth noted. 'It must be some form of respect when talking to people. Is it this way on the entire planet?'

"Now as for our introductions, I'm Cao Cao, leader of the Hero Faction of the Khaos Bridage. My friends here are Georg and Heracles. We have a few more, but they're out searching for more Sacred Gear possessors."

'Hero Faction? There must be more then one group in Khaos Bridage. And what's a sacred gear?'

Cao Cao noticed the confused look on Sephiroth's face, and that caused him to have some questions. 'He seems to not know of the Hero Faction, which is understandable, but to be recruited by Ophis herself and not know what a Sacred Gear is? Where have these two been living?'

"Explain it to them, Cao Cao," Ophis ordered. "They're not from around here."

"Why don't you start with Sacred Gears? What are they exactly?" Sephiroth asked, as if reading their minds. Cao Cao nodded before clearing his throat.

"Now, Sacred Gears are powers bestowed to certain humans and any other species with human heritage in them by God, the leader of Heaven." Sephiroth's brow slowly rose. "They were created by God to perform miracles on Earth. Normally, the most famous or infamous people in humanity's history were Sacred Gear wielders and had used their powers to further their own goals, ideals, and so forth.

"So, there's an actual God. Looks like my conquest just got interesting," Sephiroth mused. Cao Cao was slightly confused by his words.

"What do you mean? You mean you actually didn't know God existed? Just where have you been living?" he questioned. Something about this man and woman wasn't right. He was completely ignorant of things that were basic knowledge to any angel, fallen angel, or demon worth that could comprehend thought.

"Like Ophis said, Cao Cao. We're not from around here," he responded cooly. Immediately, Cao Cao got a bad feeling from them. He'd trust Ophis' judgement of character for now, but he'd keep an eye on them. "Plus, my mother and I plan on ruling these worlds. Having 'God' as an obstacle will just make this that much more interesting."

Cao Cao, Georg, and Heracles definitely weren't expecting that kind of response. For these newcomers to already have such high goals-they very well might be overexcited about joining the Khaos Brigade or something. "Oh, very well then, Sephiroth-san. If you didn't already know, Ophis-sama created the Khaos Brigade to defeat the Great Red, who's much more stronger then the Satans or God of Heaven, so it's possible if you stick with us. So, it's obvious that you're not Sacred Gear users. What kind of power you two have?"

"I'm a swordsman for the most part. Would you like to find out how good?" he asked with that smile that pisses enemies off to no ends.

"I'd like to teach this guy a lesson, Cao Cao!" Heracles shouted, already stretching his arms and shoulders. The Hero Faction leader looked to Ophis and she nodded.

"Go ahead, Heracles," she said with little care. "You two don't kill each other. I probably won't feel like bringing any of you back."

The decendant of the legendary Heracles grinned and he cracked his knuckles. "I'll try not to mess his pretty face up too bad."

Sephiroth's smile never left his face at the threat. "Come. I'll give you a taste a despair."

The masamune manifested into his left hand and was held back at the ready. Surprised by the sudden appearance of the sword, they figured he must have been some form of Fallen Angel, or a descendant of one. The Fallen Angels were capable of creating spears of light from thin air, a weapon that was highly fatal against devils. Perhaps this was a Holy Sword or something.

Heracles ignored the cold feeling that he got from this guy and charged forward. Sephiroth waited while Jenova and the others gave them plenty of space.

"I'll end this in one minute," Sephiroth announced so that everyone heard him.

"HAH! You think you're going to beat me in one minute?! Get real!" Heracles slammed his fist towards the ground before Sephiroth, the power behind the fist destroying the ground and sending rock debree straight at the swordsman.

Sephiroth's right hand glowed green before he waved it in front of him, casting a Protect spell. The rocks bounced off of the semi-transparent shield harmlessly. The sudden appearance of it confused those who didn't know Sephiroth that well, or the abilities he had with the several different materia he had in his body.

"You are safe nowhere," Sephiroth mocked as his hand became charged with a yellow aura. Heracles ignored his instincts to get away again and charged forward. Sephiroth pointed his glowing hand after jumping back further into the werehouse to avoid the swing, putting atleast forty yards between them.

"I've thought of a wonderful present for you, Heracles." Unbenowst to all except Sephiroth and Ophis, the latter sensing the changing in atmosphere and build-up of magic outside the building, dark, black clouds formed outside and static charge began building up.

Just as Heracles jumped for the retreating swordsman again, the sound of thunder boomed so loud that it had to have been the wrath of God himself above them. It gave Heracles enough pause to look up towards the sound outside the building. From outside, the static was so tense that it looked like a cat fight of lightning bolts. Finally, as if coming together as one, it all struck down and through the building.

Heracles jaw dropped and he had no time to maneuver to safety as the roof exploded inward and a massive lightning bolt shot through. In a milli-second, the Thundaja spell struck through his body and vaporized everything around him. His pain was so great that he couldn't even form screams as his body writhed and jerked from the frying, electrical charge.

It lasted for about ten seconds, but when it was over, everything within forty yards around where it struck was burnt black, some even burnt to ashes. There were several crates and what-nots on fire around them. Ophis looked upon the Sephiroth with a bigger sense of interest, Jenova will her expectations satisfied, and the two other Hero Faction members wide-eyed.

With a burst of his power, Sephiroth blew away the smoke to reveal a charred body of Heracles flat against the ground. The two boys rushed over to him from the side. When Cao Cao tried to check his friend's well-being without inflicting anymore pain, the burnt body suddenly sat up on its hunches. The fact that the boy was alive didn't surprise Sephiroth, but that the human was still able to move like that was impressive none-the-less.

A guttoral roar escaped Heracles' mouth as he slowly and stiffly got to his feet, ignoring the concerns of his comrades. This new guy had just made a complete mockery of him. He was the descendant of the MIGHT HERACLES! NO ONE MOCKS HIM!

He activated his Sacred Gear, **'Detonation Mighty Comet'**, which took the form of a regular Twice Critical, except it encompassed both his arms from the elbows to the hands. **(There's no description of it anywhere)** He held his hands out in front of him and several metal tube-shaped objects appeared. Their rears started spewing fire and Sephiroth immediately recognized just what they were, but couldn't quite understand how he was doing it.

"Eat some of this, Bastard!" With a mental thought, the small missiles, about two feet long each, spiraled through the air at Sephiroth. He retreated back and began casting lower leveled spells in rapid succession. Second and third level fire, thunder, and water blasts shot at the missiles from all directions.

He nailed most of them, but when the rest got to close, he resulted to cutting them in half. With masamune's length, he bifurcated each one that got close to him. Explosions ranged throughout the building as Sephiroth continued to flee backwards while cutting down any missiles that got past his magic spells.

**'**That ability of his surely is a troublesome one. The missiles don't seem to end. In that case-' "I'll just have to put him down." He bisected another missile and watched it fall a few meters before exploding. There weren't anymore following him so he took the chance to think his next move. 'Perhaps I should just embarrass him by ending it now, or I could make an example of him to the rest.'

His eyes widened as dozens of missiles appeared around him like a bubble. He looked over and saw a smirking Heracles looking like he already won.

"You're pretty good with a sword, but there's no way you'll dodge all of these!" As the missiles all closed in on him like a deathtrap, Sephiroth shook his head and revealed his single wing.

The sudden appearance of the appendage seemingly answered many of the questions the Hero Faction had about Sephiroth, though ironically, it didn't at the same time.

"He's a Fallen Angel, uh? What's with the one wing?" Georg asked to no one in particular.

Sephiroth readied himself as the missiles closed the last ten feet and made his move. Just before they collided to create a large explosion, Sephiroth disappeared from view in a thin white flash and was instantly behind Heracles. The human still hadn't noticed his presence until the pommel of a sword smashed into the back of his head, immediately followed by a hand pulling his head back by his hair and an elbow dropping on his exposed jugular, followed by a knee to the back of the skull. The hand then pulled him over and a knee slammed into his gut, knocking out his wind and snapping a few ribs. A snap kick took Heracles' feet out from underneath him. The kick didn't stop there as the foot came over in an arc and down into his stomach in an axe-kick.

The take-down combo occured in just under 3 seconds. Heracles was out cold from the brutal combo and it was obvious Sephiroth was the winner.

"He should have a concussion, probably two broken ribs, a crushed wind-pipe, and internal bleeding around his stomach and large instestine," Sephiroth listed like a doctor from a check-up.

Cao Cao and Georg were impressed by the sound defeat. Swordplay. Magic powers. Martial Arts. All without a Sacred Gear! What can this guy not do? And if this Jenova is his mother, what abilities does she possess as well? Was she more impressive then him? These were just some of the thoughts on everyone's minds.

Ophis walked over and nudged the unconscious Heracles with her shoe to see if he would wake. All she got was an incomprehensible mutter so she just ignored him.

"Well, Sephiroth, you've met three of the leaders of Hero Faction."

"Hero Faction?" he asked. "I thought it was called Khaos Brigade." Cao Cao decided to answer for her, knowing that she hated to give long explanations, much less talk at all.

"Allow me, Sephiroth-san. Khaos Brigade is made up of four groups, each unique in their own way. The Hero Faction is mainly humans with Sacred Gears, and also us humans who are descended from mythological heroes of legend.

Then there is the largest group, the Old Satan Faction. The Underworld was ruled by the four Maus, or Satans. They are extremely powerful beings. During the Great War between Heaven, Hell, and the Fallen Angels, the Four Great Satans were killed and eventually replaced. The Old Satan Faction is lead by three of the four original Satans' offspring.

Then there's the Vali Team, lead by the son of the original Lucifer, Vali Lucifer. They are part of the Khaos Brigade, yet they do their own thing really," he explained, sighing once he got to the end. "That Vali is a battle junky like Heracles, though not nearly as weak and much more noble."

"Hennggjghjg" weird noises came from Heracles, almost like he heard Cao Cao and was trying to respond, but his crushed wind-pipe made any words spoken mangled and incomprehensible.

"Anyway, last but not least...well, okay, they're the least, but they earn their due. It's the Magician Faction. With none of them present here, and Ophis not being the caring type, it's okay to say that they're just a bunch of grunts...cannon fodder, to be used like worthless pawns. There's nothing really special about them, just their large number of average magic users," Cao Cao explained heartlessly, though his attention immediately focused on Sephiroth and Jenova with much interest. "Anyway, I'm more interested in what kind of abilities you two have?"

"We can do both magics and physical feats without a Sacred Gear," Sephiroth answered, vaguely though. "Wouldn't want to give away all my secrets, now. However, I'm just as curious about Mother as you are. With her new body, I wonder what she's capable of." He looked at her curiously and she matched his gaze with her pink eye dimming abit to where a pupil could be seen.

"**My son is challenging me?"** Taken back by the unexpected offer was she, yet Sephiroth was just as surprised by her interpretation.

"No, Mother, but if you feel that no other can bring out your potential, then I'd be honored to." She casted a soft smile to her sincere son.

"**And I'd be grateful,"** she replied with her soft, silk voice. It was still strange to Sephiroth hearing her talk like that. Yes, it sounded as beautiful as an angel's, yet not just her voice, but her words and facial expressions are so foreign to him.

Before, she didn't really have ANY facial expressions, and all her words were telepathic, so he always heard the same womanly, monotone voice for all those years. She seemed so different now, and yet, he could somehow still feel her changing. It was a mystery to him, one that he intended to find out in due time.

"I'd be interested in seeing what you two can really do," Cao Cao said, now just repeating his earlier statement. It would perhaps be better if we were to do it elsewhere." He signaled Georg, the man readying his own Sacred Gear which couldn't be seen.

"If you'll allow me. My Sacred Gear is one of the 13 Longinus, Sacred Gears said to contain powers enough to kill gods and satans, and it's called **'Dimension Lost**.' I can transport anything or any person within the mist to anywhere of my choosing," the bispectacled boy explained proudly. "Heck, if I expand the mist great enough, I can transport an entire country into the Dimensional Gap, utterly destroying it and everyone in it if I was powerful enough. Most people think that ability is a bit of an overkill though."

Their attention then diverted to a chuckling Sephiroth, who had an amused smile. The way his eyes were narrow and confident, one couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking, or even if they wanted to know. "Trust me, you haven't seen overkill. It's a very useful ability though, Georg. It would make any logistical problems obsolete if you were to use it to transport troops to and from a battlefield, but there're sure to be some drawbacks, right?"

The young man nodded abit grudgingly. "Yes, there are some drawbacks, such as power consumption and the boundaries of my own mind. I can't transport things to places if I've never heard of or seen it before."

"A flaw that is no part your own," Cao Cao reassured. Georg was thankful for the support. "Now, care to give our new allies somewhere to fight?"

"Of course, Cao Cao-san."

Several streams of grey mists started pouring from Georg body, quickly encompassing himself, Ophis, Cao Cao, Jenova and Sephiroth. As it was, a gorgeous blond girl walked through the doors and gawked at the destruction on the inside. She quickly looked over at the group that was leaving, looking for answers. The mist was only covering from the ground to their knees at the moment, but quickly rising.

"Don't worry, Jeanne. One of our newest recruits here proved his strength against Heracles-san. We're taking him someplace to get the other one's abilities tested. Watch over Heracles for us while we're out!" Cao Cao explained, filling in the girl, however, Jeanna didn't respond to him. Her eyes were solely on Sephiroth.

"Holy crap! He's such a hottie!" she cried gleefully.

The group, except Ophis, sweatdropped, especially Sephiroth.

'Even in a different dimension, my existence is plagued with them,' he thought disbelievingly. Being the number one SOLDIER for the Shinra Electric Power Company got him plenty of fangirls, who tried to stalk and fawn over his every move whenever it was in Midgar, Kalm, etc. He absolutely hated it. He frowned as their forms disappeared in the mist, which then disappeared altogether.

* * *

A beautiful young girl in a form-fitting school uniform stood in the old school building, looking out at the school grounds from the window on the 2nd floor. The day was beautiful with few clouds in the sky and a gentle breeze flowing across the land, causing the girl's brilliant, crimson hair to flutter a little every now and then. This girl's name was Rias Gremory, younger sister to Sirzechs Lucifer, and heir to the Gremory Clan.

An equally beautiful girl with tremendously long, black hair tied in a pony tail, was standing in the room as well. She wore an identical school uniform which was just as revealing to the eyes as her master's was. This young girl was Akeno Himejima, loyal friend and servant to Rias Gremory.

Rias looked down when some motion caught her attention. Sitting down on the lawn infront of the building, the old school building that she used as the Occult Research Club, were three boys in matching school uniforms. They seemed to have just been running as she could see the sweat glistening off the skinhead's scalp. At the moment she was looking down at them, the one in the middle, one with unruly brown hair and a thin build, looked up at her and met her gaze.

They stared in each other's eyes for a few moments, the girl's emotionless while the boy's seemed surprised or amazed. Without a word, she turned back into the room and made to sit down on the couch. Sitting on the table in front of her was an elegant chess set, the two sides already at war. Strangely, there are a few pieces that are a bright red, like Rias' hair. The pieces that were red were the King, Queen, and a Rook and Knight each.

As she sat with a thoughtful expression, she started speaking. "That boy right now."

"Hai (**yes**)?" Akeno asked curiously.

"The boy in the middle," Rias stated.

Akeno thought for a moment before the boy's name finally came to her. "Second year, class B. Name's...Hyoudou." She looked to her 'King' questioningly. "Is there something about that boy?"

Rias had her hand to her lips and her eyes focused down at the chess board. "No, I might just be mistaken." She listens over and moves her white pawn up a space, putting it at a corner of the black set's king piece. "Checkmate."

She gets to her feet and walks towards the shower in the room as Akeno bends over to look at her defeat, her massive breasts swinging with the small effort. "Oh dear."

"This was an easy challenge," Rias stated as she took off the jacket of her school's uniform. She tossed the black vest onto the other piece of clothing, following up with her red, thigh-length skirt.

"I thought I made it harder though..." Akeno explained.

As Rias took off her skirt, revealing black panties, she looked back. "I will be expecting your next challenge." She proceeded to take off her white button-up shirt, revealing a matching, black bra with a lacey knot tied in between her impressive bossom. As she reached behind her to undo the clasp of her bra, the room began glowing with a familiar red light.

She jerked around to see a large red, pentagram symbol with elegant circles and shapes circling it spread across the floor of her room, casting them all in a red glow. She knew that symbol by heart. It was the symbol that represented her own family, so if she was here, then there are a very few number of devils who would be using that. From the symbol came a beautiful, silver-haired woman with a magnificient figure in a maid's outfit.

It was none other then Lucifuge, Grayfia, wife and Queen to Rias' older brother. She wasn't expecting a surprise for sometime now, not atleast for another few weeks. Surely there isn't another suitor already trying to vie for her hand in marriage? She's already having trouble dealing with Raiser Phenix.

"Grayfia-san, what a surprise. How are you?" she asked, curtesy taking place of surprise.

"I'm well, Rias-chan, (**I'm not sure what honorary suffix they use with each other)** but this isn't a social visit. I have important news that Lucifer-sama has tasked me with bringing to you," she announced.

Her attitude, though not different, would always make simple things seem very serious, but Rias couldn't shake the feeling that something was actually wrong. "What is it? I doubt it's another marriage proposal by the elders," the words were like venom on her lips.

Grayfia shook her head and held out a sheet of paper. On it was a list of menial things, like hair color and style, face shape- "What is this, Grayfia-san?"

"That is a description of the now newest member to the 72 Pillar's 'Most Wanted' list. He goes by the name of Sephiroth, and is said to be aided by a woman named Jenova. He killed the heir to the Glasya-Labolas Clan, Zephydor, as well as severely injuring several members of his and your cousin's peerage."

The crime was terrible news, but the mention of her cousin's peerage alaremed Rias and Akeno. "My cousin? You mean, Saiaorg-kun? How is he?" She couldn't stop the tremble that accompanied her voice. She cared for her cousin dearly.

"He, along with another of his peerage were severely wounded. He would've died if they hadn't teleported to the Phenex Manor and received aid from their Phoenix Tears. However, the Maou, Asmodeus, Zephyrdor's older brother, is in outrage and has all of his legions of soldiers out scouring the site of the incident. Your brother is handling the investigation as well," she explained, the news just getting heavier on Rias' shoulders.

"Your brother told me to warn you and describe the man incase he may be after other clan heirs, but eye-witnesses said that he killed Zephyrdor when the latter provoked him. They said he effortlessly defeated any who opposed him. They believe him to be a fallen angel, and he fights with a long nodachi. Sairaorg's peerage swear this Sephiroth is atleast as strong as an Ultimate-class devil, so if you are to ever run into him, do not fight him. Understand? Your life may depend on it," she forwarned, the seriousness in her tone tripling near the end of her speech.

Rias solemnly nodded and thanked her. The woman laid a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Please take care of yourself, Rias-dear. You are the heir to the Gremory Clan, so if anything were to happen to you, the Underworld would be stricken. I must report back to Lucifer-sama. Please let the Sitri group know of these developments next time you two meet."

"Thank you, Grayfia-san. Tell my brother he'd better find this Sephiroth and make him pay, or he'll have to worry about me beating him." Grayfia nodded, though she let a small smirk cross her face.

"I'm already ahead of you, Rias-chan. Take care." The symbol appeared beneath her feet and in a few moments, Grayfia zipped off to the Underworld again, leaving the tension-flooded room.

Akeno approached Rias and rubbed her shoulder, though more affectionately then Grayfia did. "Oh, dear, I'm relieved that Sairaorg-kun will be alright. However, this Sephiroth's got me wanting to test my skills now. Any sane fallen angel who'd give his name before killing a clan heir and leave witnesses must be very bold, or very sloppy."

Rias body stiffened. "It doesn't matter, Akeno. We will follow my brother's orders til Sephiroth is either captured or killed. Though, that's not to say we won't run like lambs if we come across him," she hinted with a smile, her genius intellect already running a hundred miles per hour.

* * *

Jeanne was sitting down on in a chair idly while waiting for the return of her colleagues and leader. However, she was also eagerly awaiting for that hot piece of eye-candy with the gorgeous mane of hair. Just the picture of him in her mind turned her eyes to hearts.

'I wonder what his name is? Does he like blondes? OH NO, what if he's into brunettes! AAIIGHHH! Okay, calm down, Jeanne girl. You can't let one hot guy get you this riled up. Come on, you're the descendant of Joanne of Arc for Christ's sake! It's alright, I won't glomp him when I see him. I'll act natural and not clingy or overly interested.'

Thoughts of when she first saw him and the words that she yelled came back to her.

_flashback_

_"Holy crap! He's such a hottie!"_

_end flashback_

"Noooo-oh-oh-ooohh!" she cried, crocodile tears pouring out of her tear ducts. "I came off too strong!" It's only been twenty minutes since they left, maybe he forgot about her comment after doing whatever test of skill Cao Cao was putting him through. "Y-yeah, I'm sure he forgot about it already," she assured herself, though doubt still filled her mind.

Several minutes later, as she was still stewing her thoughts, the room outside that the battle with Heracles took place at was filled with grey mist, signalling the return of the two fighters and their observers. When it vanished, everyone looked alright, though each had varying expressions.

Sephiroth had a smile and his body was moving stiffly. He had two visible bruises on his torso, two thin cuts across his chest, and a cut going across his cheeks. None would scar at all.

Jenova was moving stiffly as well, though her body has more cuts, wounds that were obviously from a sword, then Sephiroth's did, several deep ones running across her back and front. There were several bruises on her body, spread out evenly over most of her chest region, though a few good ones around her ribs. Her face was serene.

Georg and Cao Cao were both sporting concerned expressions, their bodies leaving behind a smoke trail. It was likely that they got caught up in some explosion. There weren't any signs of harm on them though. However, after witnessing what they'd just seen, neither were feeling too particularly thrilled with the new additions.

Ophis looked completely fine, though she had a tiny smile on her face, one so small that it was nearly invisible. One thought was on her mind as she watched the two juggernauts, Sephiroth and Jenova, walk off.

'Your days are numbered, Great Red. With my snakes, they'll certainly be strong enough to help me and the Khaos Bridage beat you.'

Her thoughts stopped at the Khaos Brigade. 'Those will certainly need to improve. Compared to Sephiroth and Jenova, Cao Cao and Georg would have to use their balance breakers to match them, and the others don't even have Sacred Gears! Perhaps...Sephiroth can claim the Grail. No rush though. All due time.'

"AAIIGHHH!

A girlish squeel and the sound of a body hitting another body reached Ophis' ears.

* * *

**A/N: And that would be it for this chapter. I'm sorry if it's not as long as some of you want it to be, I'm terribly sorry, but I've been suffering from a case of writer's block, while imprisoned in the Hell that is college on the eve of Finals. Plus, my laptop crashed and I'm currently working to get it repaired as fast as possible. I've got three months worth of research notes on there that's for a bigass research essay topic on Overpopulation, and the rough draft is due the week after Thanksgiving Break. Can you understand my plight now?**

**Anyway, another small fight scene. Rias learning of Sephiroth. And what are Jenova's abilities to help her land hits on Sephiroth!? I'll tell you...later. Anyway, the list has been updated. If you haven't seen it, please do. If you haven't given me your opinion, please do. If anyone felt Jeanne should've acted differently, the wiki says she's energetic and affectionate, so :P. Also, I know Heracles has a high natural defense against magic, so that's why he wasn't beaten by that Thundaja spell.**

**The final spots are b/w: Females- Alma Wade, Werbellia, or Rosso the Crimson. Males- Virgil (DMC3), Vamp (MGS4), or Kokuto (Bleach: Hell Verse). Now, on to another subject. Team names. I've gotten a few and would like to know your thoughts.**

**Team name choices: **

**Team Balance Breaker**

**Team Perverted Lolicon**

**The OutCasts**

**The Fallen Ones**

**DESPAIR**

**These are the ones I've gotten, and if I missed any, sorry. Just tell me about them. I'll try to put up a poll on my profile page. If you don't have an account, then just give me an anonymous review. Thanks, and please review down below.**


	6. Hints of Betrayal

**A/N: Hehehe, things are going to be picking up from this point on. Prepare for multiple eye-gasms while reading this story henceforth. This story is not for those who lack a strong tolerance to epicness, because I will show no mercy to the weak. (Sephiroth's persona begins to take over) This will be the best HSDxD crossover yet, and you all will help me achieve that goal. I'd also like to thank the 13 reviewers of last chapter. You all made my day. Let's get 15 for this chapter!**

**Those story crossovers of HSDxD with Infinite Stratos, Naruto, Bleach, or Evangelion are pretty good, but none will rape your souls and impregnate your wombs that are your imaginations with seeds of disbelief and anticipation like my story will. That's right, everyone. Lift your skirts and spread your legs, cuz I'm bringing this big chapter to you hard and fast. (Metaphorically, of course) And if any one who read those two sentences clenched their butt-cheeks tightly, then I know I've gotten my message across...or just ended up sexually harassing you all. XD Please don't get mad! Imagine I'm Vergil or Akeno writing this so you can't have any complaints. XDDDDD.**

**Sorry for any OOCness. And Ophis, I'm sorry, but you're gonna have more dialogue in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I may not own HSDxD or Final Fantasy VII now, but Square Enix and Fujimi Shobo, your days of rule are numbered.**

* * *

It didn't take long for Sephiroth to react to the infatuated blonde girl with the bear hug on his body, though he was surprised by the amount of pressure she was applying to it. It was like being constricted by a midgarsomr, a massive snake that lived in the marshlands south of Kalm.

"Enough of this, girl," he said coldly. If she wouldn't let go in three seconds, he'd use masamune to pry her off, even if it involved cutting her limbs off.

"**Remove your hands from my son, human**," Jenova growled. She literally growled which sorta caused Georg to step back when he had gotten close to help get Jeanne off

"Stop it, Jeanne. Not on the new guy's first day," he complained.

The girlish squeal finally stopped and she became silent. She observed her situation as if just now realizing what was going on. She looked up into Sephiroth's eyes and her cheeks darkened and her eyes widened with horror...at least, that's what it looked like to the swordsman. Almost pushing him back from the force of extending her arms to create distance between them, she became a blabbering mess.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry! I don't k-know got into m-m-me! I'd said I wou-wouldn't do that, but I did! I'm s-so sorry!" She bowed her head down repeatedly in such a manner, it made everyone wonder how she didn't tear a back muscle.

Finally regaining his own self, Sephiroth rubbed his brows before lifting a hand to stop her. "Just don't let it happen again, Jeanne." He had heard Cao Cao call the girl that, if he remembered correctly. He wouldn't get too upset about this; after all, if he planned to rule these worlds, having people bow to him was going to be expected.

'Guess that includes young, fanatically infatuated women as well,' he sighed at the thought, but it was immediately interrupted by a sputtering, shocked Jeanne. 'Will I have to cut out her tongue to silence her?' he questioned, weighing the pros and cons of doing so.

"J-J-J-Jea-Jeanne?!" she repeated, stuttering disbelievingly. Sephiroth raised a brow at the horribly blushing girl's reaction.

"Yes. That is your name, isn't it?" he asked. Before either could respond, Cao Cao had caught on to what was happening and intervened for Sephiroth's sake.

"Ah, Sephiroth-san is not from around here, Jeanne-chan, so he isn't aware of the honorifics we're use to using," he explained.

While the girl seemed to calm down, it seemed she did so to the point of deflating into a puddle. 'These humans are certainly not like the ones I'm used to,' he figured.

"oh," was all she muttered dejectedly.

"Sephiroth-san, we use honorifics in Japan to describe the person we're talking to. Using just a person's first name or with the suffix '-chan' or '-kun' at the end is considered very personal and affectionate." Sephiroth couldn't believe this.

"What nonsense," he commented, much to the amusement of some of those around him.

Cao Cao clapped his hand on Sephiroth's shoulder. "Don't worry about learning those things yet, Sephiroth-san. We've plenty of time for that later. In the mean time, you and Jenova-sama **(I guess he would call her this out of respect for her 'higher then his' age**) can relax. Perhaps you would like Georg to help you explore the nation of Japan?"

Sephiroth considered the offer. What kind of rulers would they be if they weren't familiar with their future kingdom? Perhaps the world here is similar to his homeworld. (**Honestly, that's like the only world in the FF series that doesn't have a name!) **

"I was wondering where we were at, though that is still very vague to us," he stated. "Yes, I wouldn't mind doing so. Are there any social laws here that I should be aware of? I'd rather tour the sights without unnecessary distractions. Aren't you a bit curious about this world, Mother?"

He looked at her expectantly, the woman finally digressing. "**I am, actually, but I'd rather not interact with those humans,' **she noted. **"I'll remain unnoticed." **The humans present tried not to take offense. Her son understood completely and didn't question her.

"Cao Cao, I would also like to know of any positions of possible enemies within Japan that I need to be aware of." Sephiroth's tactical mindset finally revealed itself, showing that he was going to learn about his known enemies and any possible future foes. It didn't take the Hero Faction long, Georg, Jeanne, and Ophis being still present to answer back.

"Actually, there are mainly two Devil clans that claim Japan as their territory," the faction leader started. "As far as Devils go, Japan is strictly Gremory territory, but they're accompanied by the Sitri Clan. While the main heads of the families stay mostly in the Underworld, there's a school called Kuoh Academy that is run by the Gremory Clan. It is where the peerages of the heiress of both clans have their base of operations."

Sephiroth brought his hand up to rub his chin in thought. "Useful information. Anything else I need to be aware of?"

"Well, of course, the Fallen Angel Faction is believed to have many covert operations going on around that area. They normally kill humans who are possible sacred gear holders and are believed to be a threat to their faction," Cao Cao ended with spite for the once noble beings. "The Fallen Angels mostly rely on corrupted religious fanatics and rogue priests and exorcists to aid them in eliminating anything to do with Devils, though they have been recruiting some Sacred Gear users lately," he explained.

'There's the mention of Fallen Angels again. That group I first met thought of me as something called a nekomata, then a fallen angel. Do I bear that much of a resemblance to them?'

"What can you tell me about the Fallen Angels? What are they exactly?" Cao Cao was once again astonished by this guy's ignorance of these 'must know' things, but had relented in understanding the two new recruits already.

"The Fallen Angels, as you can imagine, were once actual angels who served under the God in Heaven. However, given their name, they were cast out from Heaven by God and the Archangels due to their 'impure thoughts' that diverted them from God's teachings. The leaders of Grigori, the organization now run by the leaders of the Fallen Angels, were tempted by human women and had intimate relationships with them, thus causing their expunging. Their wings turned from white to black, and they lost their halos."

"And who leads them?" he questioned, intrigued that there's a race with wings like his. It would make alot of sense now as to why some thought he was a Fallen Angel.

"We've several informants within Grigori's ranks that help us with this info. Their General Governor is a powerful fallen angel named Azazel, and the Vice General Governor is called Shemhazai. Not much is known about Shemhazai, except that he's extremely loyal to Azazel. Thanks to our top informant, we know alot about Azazel. He wants to end all fighting between the three Factions, and is even disguised as a teacher at Kuoh Academy."

Sephiroth processed all this information. It was very useful, and if he could catch them off-guard, perhaps with an assault or assassination, then he'd severely cripple the leadership of an entire Faction.

"Despite this, a bit of uncommon knowledge for you, Sephiroth-san. The Fallen Angels will definitely be our least troublesome opponent. For centuries, their birthrates have been slowing down and they don't have any way to quickly replenish their numbers. The Grigori's days are certainly numbered."

A thought then plagued Sephiroth's mind. What if the F-Angels were some kind of far-away kin to him? His mother has traveled the universe for possibly millions of years, so is it not possible that she might've crossed dimensions at one point and absorbed a Fallen Angel? Is it possible that she is actually from this dimension and not his own? It would certainly explain his and Genesis' wings.

Would he really be waging war against some of his own blood?

'This is something that I must speak with Mother about,' the conflicted man decided. Killing his own kind isn't nothing new to him. If so, then his whole experience with waging war against humanity on his planet, against Hojo, Cloud, Shinra...those would have been just dreams. No, he was very familiar with killing, so it's not like he was having a breakdown here, or anything relatively close to that.

'However, it seems that their race is dying out quickly. Perhaps sparing some would be more beneficial.' As he sorted out his thoughts and feelings, an idea grew on him. He cast a subconscious look to the empty space that his 'Fallen' wing would be if he sprouted it. As his idea grew, so did his smile. There was only one question that made the fabrication of his idea come true, and that was 'Where can I get the power at?'

Jenova saw her son in deep thought, and noticed the smile that grew on his face. If anything, he seemed to have either decided an attack plan or some other battle-related thought. '**What are you thinking, Son?' **

This was the first time Sephiroth had heard his mother through their mental link since she'd got her body. He'd assumed she lost the ability, but turns out he was wrong. 'Plotting, Mother. I believe I've thought of a way to increase our overall power and numbers, but I'm not sure how to go by it.'

Okay, now she was more curious then before. **'Show me,'** she thought. Sephiroth allowed his plan to pass into her mind via their telepathic link and by the time he was through, she felt impressed by his foresight and consideration into it.** 'I know not a way. Maybe Ophis does,' **she suggested.

'Perhaps, Mother. I will ask her when I get the chance.' Assuring her and himself, he listened to the rest of the explanations about his enemies. Apparently, the Khaos Brigade even had spies within Heaven's ranks- a truly impressive accomplishment from the sounds of it. It's as if they have eyes and ears everywhere. This seemed too much of a coincidence.

After the talking was all done, Sephiroth assured Georg that he'd like to go visit Sorami City (**That's what I'm going to call the city with Kuoh Academy since the city's name is nowhere I can find.)** but would decide to do it later. He nodded and the group then dispersed, the former making sure to take Jeanne with him. When they had the chance, Sephiroth asked Ophis if they could talk somewhere private.

"I'm had some thoughts about what I've heard today and I found some holes in Cao Cao's talking that doesn't sit right with me, and probably not with you," he explained seriously. Though reluctant, Ophis agreed and opened the portal to the Dimensional Gap. Jenova followed them as well and the trio disappeared. What felt like minutes to them passed before they arrived in the eye-irritating realm, their body's already cast in the protective magic, but amazingly, it was Jenova would did this.

"How were you able to replicate my magic?" Ophis asked, baffled by Jenova's new abilities with no answer at all.

**"I know you felt what I am, Ophis,"** the Calamity said as she looked down into the shorter dragon's eyes. Being reminded of that, Ophis nodded. She'd felt the energies and blood of thousands of different beings. Not just individuals, but species as a whole!

"Yes..You're not just one being. You're thousands of them," she answered. "What are you?"

**"I do not even know how old I am, and some of my memories are so old that I've forgotten them, but I know that I've traveled from planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy, and I've absorbed the genes and memories of all and the powers of many. When you created my body with that dragon's flesh..and your magic..my body absorbed the physical and magical knowledge within the blood of him, as well as the knowledge of some of your magic."**

If there ever was a time Ophis has been shocked, this certainly would have taken the cake. Though only her eyes widened, it was enough to convey her feelings. "I see...though you possess some of my magical abilities, you still lack the sheer power that mine can have. However, I understand now." She turned to look at Sephiroth. "What did you wish to tell me?"

"How well do you trust Cao Cao," he asked bluntly.

Ophis eyes narrowed slightly. "I feel I can trust him. What are you accusing?" Sephiroth didn't back down from her stare.

"You told me the sole purpose of creating the Khaos Brigade was to kill the Great Red, correct?" She nodded, remembering well her exact words when they talked earlier.

"If the only purpose of the Khaos Brigade is to kill the Great Red, why has Cao Cao planted spies in all the factions?" Ophis' eyes widened slightly as she tried to rationalize what Sephiroth was saying. "Cao Cao and Georg have just told me themselves that they have spies in all the factions. I was raised and bred for war, brought up in a private military. I have strategically planned many battles and assaults in my life and the first rule I always follow is '_Know my enemy._'"

Soon, the puzzle pieces started to fall into place for Ophis. What Sephiroth was saying was something that hadn't crossed her mind, ever!

"Cao Cao knows of your uncaring and free-spirited leadership attitude and has taken advantage of it," he pressed. "He is planning a war with all the factions right under your nose. If he is bold enough to do that, imagine just how far he might go to achieve something on a grander scale."

Yes, it was all falling together now, but there was still one point that he has failed to mention to her. "And what does this have to do with me, Sephiroth?" she didn't bother with the honorifics either this time, given the serious situation. "I agreed to help you rule these worlds if you would help me kill the Great Red. How is what Cao Cao doing any different then what you would be doing?"

Sephiroth understood the very valid point she was making. If anything, it sounded like Cao Cao was no different then he was, except that the boy had a head-start on him. But there was still a hole in her argument.

"One word," he said, bringing up a single finger. "Trust."

Her blank look told him to clarify. "I've let you know about my future activities while he has kept you blissfully unaware. There's a saying where I'm from. _'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer_.' Being the leader of your Hero Faction, Cao Cao has done just that," Sephiroth finished.

The saying's words struck home in Ophis' heart, so much so that she immediately began rethinking all of her arguments with him and what she would have/could have said to refute them, but every time she thought back to her alliance with the human, Sephiroth's words repeated themselves in her ears.

"So..you believe that he not only is planning a war against the three factions, but he plans on betraying me as well?" she asked, making sure she was hearing Sephiroth correctly. The man just nodded his head up and down.

"It's possible. What reason else would he have to have spies and turncoats in all the major factions? You probably wouldn't mind helping him with his goals, but he doesn't know that. He did not speak to you about it after how many years of being your ally?"

He didn't know, and she didn't know why, but those words felt cold to her for some reason. She couldn't explain it, but she didn't like the way it felt.

"Can you think of any way he could overpower you or make you submit?" he asked.

Ophis scoured her brain for possible things and only came up with just two. Though she wouldn't give Sephiroth her complete faith and trust now to reveal exactly what all of her weaknesses were, she'd give him something.

"There are very few things I can think of," she started. "There are just a few number of people who possess these weapons though. However, if what you're saying is true, then he will try to ally himself and whoever follows him with that person. While some of the weapons can harm me, only one thing can weaken me enough for someone with a heavenly dragon's power to defeat me. And there's only one person who possesses it...Hades."

Sephiroth immediately thought of the Summon materia that could summon an entity known as Hades. That monster possessed some rather potent paralysis powers if he remembered correctly. He, however, knew this wasn't the same Hades.

"Who is this Hades, Ophis?"

Ophis glared at him, letting him know how she felt about all this. Heck, she was doing all the talking! She'd agreed to give him her ears under the impression that he was the one who'd be doing all the talking!

"You're gonna owe me big time for all this talking," she forewarned ominously.

He agreed, knowingly that if something were to happen to destroy Ophis, then his chances of beating either Great Red or conquering the three worlds would becoming astronomically harder and troublesome, and he didn't feel like using Super Nova again and risk getting sucked into another universe. The thought of having to start from scratch again, or possibly never get another chance like this, was a risk NOT worth taking.

Seriously, what are the chances of getting sucked through a spacial rift into parts unknown and befriending a humanoid dragon 'GOD' that was practically all-powerful? He'd have to make up a word for it since one didn't exist for a number that large.

"You have my word. Whatever it is, I'll do it." Jenova raised a brow when her son agreed whole-heartily.

"Hades is the ruler of the Realm of the Dead. He has in his possession a being named Samael, who's a hybrid of a fallen angel and a dragon, as a form of punishment for him and other dragons and snakes by God himself. His blood is like poison to any dragon or dragon possessor, including me. It could be used to severely weaken my powers," she explained, irritated at the thought of that being possible.

Sephiroth and Jenova digested this unsettling information. If Cao Cao were to somehow get his hands on this Samael, he'd not only become a huge threat to Ophis, but to his plans as well.

"Ophis, what are the chances of Cao Cao getting Samael?"

She put a finger to her lip as she went into deep thought for a few moments. "Not sure. Samael is sealed in the Realm of the Dead, so only Hades can retrieve him. The chances of him getting Hades' favor is unknown."

She rubbed her throat with her hand softly. This has easily got to be the most she's ever spoken in one day in all her life. Sephiroth soooo owes her a big favor. She hated that he was asking her questions that required many details to cure him of his ignorance.

"Is that all?" she asked, agitation becoming more prominent. All that Sephiroth was saying was alot to take in.

He shook his head. "No. Just be careful Ophis. Mother and I will be sure to keep an extra eye on him and his actions," he assured.

"Whatever," she muttered. He nodded and the trio opened a rift back into the human world and left in relative silence.

As they were walking through the portal's length, Jenova 'knocked' on Sephiroth mind, getting the man's attention.

'Yes, Mother?'

**'Quite a performance. Do you think she was persuaded?'** She was indeed curious about her son's actions. Yes, Ophis was an invaluable ally to them and their cause, but the way Sephiroth spoke to her was more adamant, more passionate, then what she'd known him to do.

'I believe she will be eventually. I've planted the seeds of doubt in her mind with rational evidence of betrayal. We'll see soon enough.'

That was nothing she was already aware of, but she wanted to know more. Her son was just being a recluse now. **'I know you know more, Sephiroth. The way you spoke to her of that filthy human wasn't like you. _'__You have my word. Whatever it is, I'll do it.'?_'**

If Ophis was confused as to why Sephiroth seemed to laugh to himself, she didn't show it as she walked in front of the mother/son pair.

'You're right. I don't like Cao Cao. He has plans to conquer the rest of the factions, my future enemies...our worlds. If he sees me as a threat more then a loyal comrade, he'll try to get rid of me. It's only natural. Plus, I doubt you'll have any need of a human with that much power as one of your servants. I'll deal with him eventually, _before_ he can make his own move. Having Ophis in my corner will make it infinitely less troublesome.'

**'But there's something else, isn't there? When you told her to be careful, it sounded more then mutual concern.'**

He raised a brow at her, wondering what she was getting at. She kept eye contact with him, waiting for him to explain. Damn. She already suspects something. She's being more of a mother then she realizes. He took a few moments to collect his thoughts to give a proper response.

'Maybe I see her as a possible companion, like Genesis or Angeal- a friend.' Now it was Jenova's turn to look surprised. Honestly, she was. 'She saved your life, Mother. I owe her much, more then just killing this dragon.'

**'And is that another reason why you decided to warn her about Cao Cao so soon, even when all you had to give her was your thoughts and speculations?'**

Sephiroth began to wonder how his mother was turning from a simple minded, species-absorbing entity to an intelligent entity showing actual mother personality traits. It was as if she's evolving based on his preferences of a suitable mother-figure or was like or something.

As the two went over theories about the betrayal, Cao Cao's possible motives besides killing Great Red, and the likes, Ophis was doing some serious thinking herself.

She'd felt the tremendous power of whatever it was that ripped open the sky and shook the Underworld to its very foundations. She'd sensed the lingering presence of that power from Sephiroth's body. It was no mistake that he'd caused whatever the hell that explosion was. She knew having another person, one capable of doing _that_, would be a nice addition to her Khaos Brigade.

Yet..in a single day's time, he'd impressed her and the others, solidified his right to be among them, and then, when she thought she might've been close to figuring him out, he throws her a knuckle-ball with a conspiracy that Cao Cao is planning another Great War under her nose, and possibly has intentions on betraying her.

She mentally groaned and rubbed her temples as a headache appeared. She normally never bothered to do this much thinking. She was used to peace and solidarity. It all changed when that blasted Great Red showed up. If he hadn't showed up, then she wouldn't have ever bothered to make the Khaos Brigade, and if that hadn't happened, then she wouldn't have to put up with possible mutiny and war with those annoying mortals.

Her brain has never experienced this kind of overload and was screaming its complaints to her. And that Sephiroth...

_"Is that all?"_

_"No. Just be careful, Ophis."_

'...'

That almost sounded like actual concern. He seemed sincere enough. Why? All she was to him was a bargain partner, a mutual 'I rubbed your back, now you rub mine' relationship. It actually sounded like he genuinely cared for her well-being. Plus, he immediately pulls her aside to warn her of a possible danger even with no solid evidence to prove it. Why? What would he gain from that?'

_''One word. Trust."_

She almost stopped her walking as her mind came to a screeching halt.

He wanted her trust?

When she thought back on her time with the Khaos Brigade, _nobody _ever asked for her trust, or attempted to gain it. They simply came together under her with their own goals in mind. Just one questioned remained in her mind.

'Why would you care for my trust, Sephiroth?'

Moments later, they reached the end of the portal shaft and the three beings waltzed out like an everyday thing. They must've stayed in there longer then they thought, since the sun was now setting out in the distance.

"If you can find someplace to rest, you can stay here," Ophis suggested. The two thanked her and went to explore the place a little bit more.

Besides the massive supply room, there were a few rooms off to the side of the building. Looking through the glass windows frames on the second floor, it looked like a control room of some sort. Looking around, Sephiroth noticed a few cranes that were mounted on rails that were attached to the ceiling. Walking through the doorway on the first level, there was a short hallway with several doors. The first ended up being the bathroom, the second room was a small kitchen, and the two rooms were sleeping quarters that held about ten bunk beds each. A small sign b/w the two rooms designated which gender belonged to which.

"Sleep well, Mother. I'll see you in the morning," the son said, bidding his mother good-night.

Jenova simply stood there for several moments before entering the women's quarters. In there already was Jeanne, the annoying human girl who'd dared lay lusting hands on her son. She instantly adopted a glare at the back of the sleeping girl's form. Her tail twitched angrily behind her as if it had a mind of its own. Jenova humored herself with the idea of impaling the girl through her chest before absorbing her piece by piece. It's been quite some time since she's last done that, it being over a thousand years, plus the long time they were encapsulated b/w their universe hop.

Jenova's tail slowly made its way to the girl and came to a stop just inches away from Jeanne's back, waiting for the command to draw blood.

"Jenova?"

She glanced behind her to see Ophis staring at her with a hint of seriousness. "Fighters don't grow on trees. Don't kill her." Her voice was calm but the message was clear as day.

Jenova's son had already gotten on Ophis bad list with making her talk alot, which is sorta lazy on her part, and making her doubt her own troops' loyalty. She remembered her son's words when they were in the portal from the Dimensional Gap. It seemed that he saw Ophis as something more then just an ally, and she did owe the Dragon God her life.

Steadily, the tail retreated from its position. "**Just entertaining a thought, Ophis."**

Ophis stared right into Jenova's pink eye eyes. "I suppose it's natural," she said cryptically before walking back out of the room.

Jenova pondered what she meant by that before deciding to let claim a spot. She saw several of the beds had items by them, probably somebody's personal belongings. She was about to look for another bed before she stopped and mentally slapped herself in the face.

**'They're humans. Since when did I care?'** She went to one particular bed that was by the window that faced the East. It already had somebody's stuff underneath it. Casually, she grabbed the items and tossed them towards the beds further down from her. **'Perfect.' **She'd like to see a human dare to complain to her.

As she laid down, she noted that the bed felt soft and comfortable to her, a feeling that was very unfamiliar. She laid there for a few moments but to her, nothing was happening. She looked over at Jeanne who was snuggled into her blanket with a rather, dare she say..._perverted_ smile on her face.

Jenova felt a growl within her chest. All she really knew about it was it happened because she didn't like Jeanne. She'd yet to see the girl's abilities, and for being a human, Jenova doubted that the girl would even be worthy enough for consideration when it comes to the subject of a possible mate for her son. From all the pain and betrayal he went through, he deserved someone who would understand him and accept his demons. That person would have to be able to connect with him on a very personal level, understand him bit for bit, and also prove her loyalty, sincerity, and strength.

She began to wonder why she was thinking so much about that, or why it even came up in her mind. She'd felt her body and mind slowly changing. She couldn't identify the source, but it was so subtle, it was almost like she was subconsciously changing herself into some distinct persona without even knowing it. She knew she couldn't do anything about it right now, but maybe it'll come to light with time.

Sleep seemed to have sneaked up on her as her eyelids closed, hiding their illuminating pink eyes from the world.

* * *

Inside a large field tent in the Underworld, Sirzechs walked through the tent opening to where he was in a temporary field lab set up by their very own, Ajuka Beelzebub. Ajuka was one of the 4 Satans of the Underworld, just like Sirzechs and Osmodius were, however, unlike Osmodius, Ajuka was much more useful in many different ways.

True, they were all very powerful, but, like Sirzechs, Ajuka was considered a 'super-Maou', whose power and potential exceeded that of the original leaders of the Underworld. While Ajuka was powerful, he was just as smart. Solving the low population of Devils with the evil piece system was perhaps his greatest contributions to the Underworld to date. He was currently working on the investigation here at the site where it was said that the two peerages of Sairaorg Bael and Zephyrdor Glaysia-Labolas encountered the mysterious Sephiroth and Jenova.

Upon the arrival of the investigation crews, they were speechless by the amount of devastation that was caused. Yes, there was a massive crater, but out in the distance, there was absolutely nothing. Nothing for as far as the eye could see. It was after that moment that Ajuka was contacted to come and help.

Sirzechs was here to see if the scientist has found anything useful yet.

He saw his old friend sitting at one table where he had a canister of glowing purple mist floating aimlessly in it stuck in God only knows what sort of machine.

-zzztttpp-

Sirzechs' wince and rubbed his head for the slip up. Saying any kind of holy phrase or word, or going near holy ground, caused instant migraine for the perpetrator. The grumble he made was enough to get Ajuka's attention.

"Oh, Lucifer-sama, I was just thinking about you," the scientist announced from over his shoulder.

"Ohhh, you're such as sincere friend, Ajuka-san." The Lucifer smiled at how he had such a good friend.

"Of course, my friend. I was just planning on asking you later if you'd like to test out a new potion of mine," he gestured to a cabinet that had several vials in it, all filled with liquids of various colors.

"What sort of potion?" the crimson-haired devil asked, imagining what his friend could have concocted up this time. He opened the cabinet and looked over the admittedly tasty-looking contents. Ajuka spared him a glance and chuckled.

"Not in the cabinet. It's in the beaker on the table in front of the cabinet."

"Oh," Sirzechs didn't worry about the mistake and looked at said beaker only to grimace.

The beaker was about 5000 ml and had some sort of bubbly brown substance in it. "Uhhh, are you certain it's safe, Ajuka-san?"

"Of course!" came the reply. "It's a new formula I made for briefly breaking the cap barrier of one's abilities and strengths. After several failed attempts, I'm certain that I've got it correct this time."

Sirzechs was bent over and eyeing the murky liquid with a mix of curiosity and scrutiny when what looked like a hand of liquid suddenly lurched at him. "AAGGHH! he screamed in surprise.

Having not paid attention to his friend's yelp, the scientist assured of his safety. "Aye, It's perfectly safe."

Sirzechs sweatdropped and held up his hands. "I think I'll pass, friend. Besides, I've come to check up on the investigation. I figured from the interviews with Sairaorg-kun's peerage that the power of this Sephiroth might've been exaggerated a bit, but if he's the one to have caused that massive trough in the distance, then we might actually have to watch ourselves."

Ajuka was nodding his head as he friend rattled on his concerns and such. "Yes, but whatever monstrosity caused that piece of landscaping isn't our Sephiroth," he proclaimed.

"Really? Then who was it?"

Ajuka gestured towards the glass cylinder which held the purple mist in it. "This is a sample of some magic traces in the vicinity of that crater," he said. "It was all I could gather, even with my most sophisticated instruments. It's properties have a similar structure, but they're still nowhere like our own. There's not a trace of holy or devil magic in it."

Normally, since the main sources of magic are either from Angels and Fallen Angels, from Devils, or from Dragons. Not matter the spell or technique, each move always has trace amounts of light or dark energy, depending on the user. Dragons happen to be a little mix of both, but with their own brand of magic, making them easily distinguishable from a devils or angel/fallen angel's magic.

Upon discovering this, it has recently been used to identify the race of any criminal or attacker who's alluded the local authority.

"Okay, putting the question of what caused that massive landscape masterpiece for later, how about the still impressive crater that we're currently standing in?"

Ajuka began fiddling with the machine that was holding a sample of this Sephiroth's magic. How his eccentric friend ever managed to become so smart never ceases to amaze Sirzechs.

"Well, if this machine's readout is correct, which I guarantee my reputation on, this Sephiroth's magic falls under NONE of the categories we have listed," Ajuka announced. "Quite exciting, really. A being in our world that has none of the known magic affinities."

"What? So what does this mean, Ajuka?"

The scientist sighed at the fact that he'll have to dumb his language down for his equally eccentric Maou. "It means either one, or more then one, of three things. One- This Sephiroth has developed a magic entirely of his own and not use any holy, dragon, or devil bases. Two- He was born with it, it being possibly some extremely rare or previously thought-extinct magical energy. Three- He isn't from our dimension. Or...he's more then one of the above."

Sirzechs took a moment to figure this all out and put it into some form of order. So, this guy definitely doesn't use any kind of dragon, devil, or holy magic, and he's possibly not even from this dimension.

"Ajuka, you failed to suggest that he's just not from this world?"

Ajuka flicked him on the head. "You think we haven't thought about that, dummy? Give us some credit!" The easy-going Lucifer animatedly nursed the red mark on his forehead.

"You were trying to bruise me with that flick or something?"

"Baahh, it'll build character. Anyway, that's all that I've been able to come across at the moment. I'm working on a way to develop scanners that we can set out to track this type of magic right here."

Sirzechs' eyes lit up at the idea. "Since he doesn't use any type of magic native to our worlds, his will be the only one the scanners pick up!"

He received mocked applause from his friend for his deduction skills. "There's hope for you yet, my friend. It seems your power of destruction hasn't vaporized your brain like many of us thought."

"Yeah, well look who has the smokin' hot wife who dresses in a maid's outfit? ME!"

While he thought he'd got the Beelzebub good, said man had a smirk on his face. "Oh, by smokin' hot wife who dresses in a maid's outfit, would you happen to be talking about the lovely one standing behind you?"

Sirzechs stopped smirking and froze up. He dared to look over his shoulder and wished he hadn't as he was staring right into the cold, grey eyes of his beloved wife. What was usually lacking in emotion now had a certain spine-chilling fury in them.

"_Lucifer-sama," _Grayfia made a point to heavily enunciate his title, "I have finished the errand you sent me on. As a reminder, I will not have you talking so vulgarly about me while I'm performing my duties."

He winced as she grabbed his ear, which caused crocodile tears to pour from his tear ducts. "Oh, Grayfia, darling, why must you be so uptight. I don't want your pretty face to get wrinkles from that frown."

All the workers outside of the main research tent jumped back from it as a cry of agony split the air around them. The sudden weight of one's magic force in the atmosphere threatened to consume any fool who dared to get any closer.

* * *

**Again, I'm sorry if it's not as long as I wanted it to be. I felt I may be rushing it, but I'm just so excited to get to recruiting our awesome team, and I'm afraid that I'll lose my muse if I don't get the story rolling. Again, Ophis-chan, my dearest apologies for making you talk so much. Sorry everyone for any OOCness. **

**The final spots have been decided: Females- Werbellia won it by two votes. I counted these up from both PMs and reviews. Males- Virgil (DMC3) won it by a landslide. **

**I did receive some votes and requests for a few special ladies. Kaede (Lucy), the beautiful, pink-haired, horned D.I.D. Diclonius from Elfen Lied, and Seras Victoria, the sexy, hilarious, gun-tottin' draculina bad-ass from Hellsing Ultimate. Because I absolutely love Seras' character, it's highly possible that she'll make a cameo appearance in the HSDxD realm. Since Alma Wade came in a close second, I figured out how to kill two birds with one stone. Werbellia is talented in necromancy and bringing alive hoards of the undead. Well, why not be able to summon Alma Wade from time to time? I bet some of you are cheering for my brilliance right now (I hope).**

**Now, as for Lucy. I love her character to death. She's one of my top five favorite anime/manga women of all time. Since her creators are being giant douche-bags about whether to make a season 2 or not, I want to know if you all want her to have an appearance at some point. I'm keeping my limit on the team number- that FINAL. But who's to say Lucy won't just pop up somewhere.**

**If you want to see the final draft of the team roster, refer to chapter 4.**

**Now, on to another subject. Team names. I've gotten a few and would like to know your thoughts.**

**Team name choices: **

**Team Balance Breaker- tied for 4th with one vote**

**Team Perverted Lolicon- tied for 4th with one vote**

**The OutCasts- 3rd place with 2 votes**

**The Fallen Ones- 1st place so far with five votes**

**DESPAIR- 2nd place with 3 votes**

**It says that I've got 7 unique votes...what the FUQ does that mean?**

**These are the ones I've gotten, and if I missed any, sorry. Just tell me about them. I'll try to update the poll on my profile page. If you don't have an account, then just give me an anonymous review. Thanks, and please review down below.**


	7. Destined Meeting

**A/N: Just had a hint of inspiration for this next chapter. I don't know if I'll be including the chapter where Issei and Company meets Sephiroth. However, I do have an equally surprising event. The first major canon plot twist of the story. You will hopefully be entertained.**

**Also, I've decided who the first members of the group will be. I've changed some things up, so the first ones will be Vergil, WRS and IBRS.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything canon-related to Highschool DxD or Final Fantasy VII. If I did, I would have made a female-Sephiroth just for the heck of it to see how well she would be received. Now that I've said this, I'm within the rules of the mods so you cyber bullies can suck my phallus! If you don't know what that is, then you're probably too young to be reading this story.**

* * *

Things were becoming quite interesting in Grigori, the main headquarters/government of the Fallen Angel faction. They shared the Underworld with the devils, as well as having many territories on Earth to reside in. Sharing the Underworld with the Akuma (devils), they were usually constantly at odds with the Devils.

There, among the Fallen's leaders, were a few individuals who stood out and above the majority. Of those few, a fallen angel named Azazel was their actual leader. He was a very charismatic and handsome man who not only had skills, but intelligence as well. He valued knowledge above most other essentials because the Fallen Angels took the most casualties of the three factions during the war. When he first saw the sign that they couldn't win against the Devils or Angels, he made the hard decision and called the retreat.

For a few years now, he's been blending in with the human world, and right under the noses of the Gremory and Sitri Clans too! He was currently working at the school as a teacher. He's the regular laid-back, kind-hearted, yet slightly perverted teacher who always has a smile and is glad to help a student or teacher. He chose this school since it was a hot spot of possible human Sacred Gear possessors.

He'd been studying the Sacred Gears more and more in the past decades, deciding that it'd be better to keep them under control instead of just killing them off. He was currently going over the results of machine he developed to detect Sacred Gear possessors among humans. While he'd receive confirmations of new possessors every day, he was especially attracted to one case. A human Japanese boy named Hyoudou Issei had a Sacred Gear, though it's power signature was alot stronger then anything he's seen in years. It was definitely one of the 13 Longinus, but he wasn't sure of which one.

Looking over Issei's file, he seemed to be just an average high-school sophomore. Average grades, no extracurricular activities, lives with his mom and dad who make average income. All and all, there was nothing seemingly special about the kid, besides the fact that he's got a Sacred Gear signature the likes of which could defeat a Maou or Archangel, heck even a God.

That sort of potential energy on the wrong side could spell disaster for his people, but worse yet, if left unchecked and it somehow prematurely awakens and goes berserk, it'd be disastrous for the whole country of Japan. Unsurprisingly, he already had the ideal person to investigate and monitor the boy. His attention was drawn to the knocking on his door. Speak of the Devil and he will arrive.

A beautiful, white-skinned woman who looked about in her early twenties walked into the room. She had long black hair that fell to her hips, a rather hard-to-miss, hourglass figure, and dark violet eyes. Soft pink lips were turned upwards into a soft smile. She wore what appeared to be a dominatrix outfit which consisted of a black, leather, strap-like object underneath her breasts and one over each of her breasts to cover her nipples. She wore a thong that had a strap for one end while the other was three, thin strings.

Black gloves that ran up the length of her arm hid the definition of her arms and came just beneath some black shoulder pauldrons, the one on her right shoulder having three spikes point up. Her outfit ended with a matching pair of black boots, giving her a very mouth-watering, eye-stealing appearance. Being alot of things, one thing Azazel was not ashamed about was being a bit perverted, though he kept it on the down low. He knew Fallen Angels were meant to be seductive, but there were some, like this woman, who took it to another level.

"Azazel-sama, you wanted to see me?" she asked.

"Yes, Raynare-san, I have a mission for you," he answered, revealing the identity of the woman. At the fact their leader was entrusting her with a mission personally set Raynare's emotions on fire. If one would need an example of a woman willing to please and gain approval from her boss, it'd be Raynare. However, Azazel would give the woman credit. She was really working her fine butt off in trying to move up the ranks of the Fallen Angels.

"There is a human boy named Hyoudou Issei that possibly is a possessor of a Sacred Gear. I need you to observe him for a while?"

The woman's face turned to a slight frown. Babysitting humans wasn't something she'd anticipated. "Observe a human? Does his Sacred Gear pose a threat to us or something?"

"It's signature is very powerful, Raynare-san. If he were to say, 'lose control' of it, then he'd be a problem to any faction," he explained in short. "I just need you to observe him and keep an eye out for any sign of it awakening. It shouldn't be hard for someone of your skills."

She blushed lightly at his confidence but she was able to hide it from view.

'This is it! If I can do this, as well as acquire that nun's Twilight Healing, then my ascension to the higher ranks of the Fallen Angels will be certain. And also, I'll have Azazel-sama's praise!'

She couldn't let this opportunity pass by. Her goals were so close at hand now. She revealed her face again, this time a cheerful smile in place. "Of course, Azazel-sama. I'll depart immediately." She bowed and left his office, hardly able to contain her excitement.

When she was gone, the Fallen Angel leader chuckled in amusement. "She really has been working hard lately. We could use more people with her kind of enthusiasm." He got a worried look for a brief moment. "I just hope she doesn't get too carried away and makes a mistake."

His thoughts were interrupted by another fallen angel rushing into his office, panting as if he'd just set a new record for flying around the world. Azazel took a moment to remember his face, finally matching him as one of the recently appointed officers in the 313th Border Division. He'd been the one to finalize the man's promotion after all.

"Ah, Sgt. Ezek, you appear distraught. I wasn't expecting your visit either." He noted the serious look in the new officer's eyes, as well as his haggard appearance and blood stains on some of his clothes, and this appearance aroused suspicion. "What happened?"

* * *

Raynare left her leader's room feeling a bit giddy with the opportunity she'd been given. She felt she was close enough to possibly climbing higher in the Grigori hierarchy. Some bit of it was due to the crush she had on the former archangel. As she made her way through the busy building that was the Grigori's headquarters was at, many of the Fallen Angels she passed by made no effort to hide their words.

_"Brown nose-er."_

_"She's just a dog that begs for scraps at the master's table."_

_"She's so eager to please. Next thing you know, she'll be blowing him."_

Raynare's joyful mood ended then as she was reminded of her own greedy ambition to please Azazel and the other leaders of Grigori. So what if she was enthusiastic; what's wrong with that? What's wrong with working hard for the affection of someone who you have a crush on? Still, their words were like arrows in her heart, mocking and laughing at her efforts for this past decade.

She gritted her teeth and clenched her glove-covered fists in frustration. 'They are all just sloths. They have no desire to become better! It's because our ranks are full of their kind that the Fallen Angels have become a mockery of our former selves! I'll show them all. Once my plans this week are finish, I'll stand above them all! Just they wait.'

Assured of herself, she stilled her nerves and put on a confident smile. When she walked into a large room, there were three F-angels seemingly waiting for her. One was a tall and buxom woman with long, navy blue hair that obscured her right eye, both of which were brown. Her outfit consisted of a violet, trench coat-like top with a wide collar, a matching miniskirt, and black heeled shoes. The trench coat top was open at her chest, giving view to a good bit of her impressive cleavage. Her only accessory was a gold necklace around her neck.

The next one was a rather young looking and short girl with blonde hair styled in twin short side ponytails and blue eyes. She wore a gothic lolita outfit, consisting of a black Lolita dress with white frills, a large black bow on the front, and a green jewel embedded on the collar, white thigh-high socks, and black shoes She also wore a large black bow on top of her hair.

The last member of the group was a tall, middle-aged-looking gentleman with short black hair and dark blue eyes. His outfit consisted of a pale violet trench coat over a white dress shirt with a matching ascot, black pants and shoes, and a black fedora. He was the first to speak up upon Raynare's arrival.

"Raynare-san, what's the news?" he asked in a dark voice.

"Kalawarner, Mittelt, and Dohnaseek," she called out respectively. "The plan is still a go. Azazel-sama doesn't suspect anything. Also, I was given an assignment to observe a lousy human Sacred Gear holder."

"Observe? Not kill?" the man asked, brow raised in question. The other two were showing the same reactions.

"Yes, to observe. There's a chance that the human possesses a dormant, but very powerful Sacred Gear that could be a problem for any of the three factions," their leader explained. "Luckily, he lives in the same area as our base, so the job shouldn't interfere with our plans for a certain little nun," she assured. "Do as you please while I go investigate this human boy, but don't do anything to give away our plans."

The three nodded and all disappeared within a transportation circle.

* * *

Sephiroth woke from his slumber feeling better then he has in a long time. The beds back in Shinra were merely the standard bunk bed which was usually too short or too hard for the SOLDIERs' tastes. Even one as esteemed as he wasn't allowed the luxury of a feathered mattress that his body had seemingly melted into.

His eyes opened with his vision being a bit blurry due to the sleep in his eyes. The sun was probably shining through the windows on the women's side, but there were no windows in the men's barracks. Sephiroth didn't mind though as he body refused to obey his brain's commands to get up.

'I think world domination can wait ten more minutes,' he thought. Though now that he was awake, his mind drifted over to the only other possible thing that didn't have to do with world domination and attaining God-hood. 'I wonder how Mother slept. I'm sure it's the first time she's ever slept in a bed or any sort.'

The sudden of her consuming that clingy girl from yesterday passed through his closed eye-lids like a premonition. He would have called it paranoia, but then again, this was Jenova he was thinking about, and she had to sleep in a room with a human. The urge to not have to possibly explain to Ophis why Jeanne is missing would probably put them two on her hit-list. It was this sense of obligation that he willed himself into a sitting position on his bed, his bare feet meeting the cold wooden floor.

As he rubbed his eyes, he heard some footsteps at the door of the men's room. He peeked through his lids and saw Jeanne with a tray of food in her hands.

"Sephiroth-kun, I wanted to make up for my actions yesterday so I made you some-KYAA!" She nearly dropped the tray when she saw his state of attire, her face quickly turning red as blood.

Sephiroth had removed the majority of his clothes last night, leaving nothing on him except a pair of silk, silver pajama pants that he "borrowed" from Heracles, since the human obviously wasn't going to be moving around for atleast another day. The human was the only one with a size close to his own anyway. Sephiroth figured the girl was trying to say that she'd brought him breakfast. His stomach rumbled a little bit as his eyes scanned the contents of the tray.

'Perhaps she won't be as bad as the ones from Gaia (**name of FF7 world**),' he thought, and subconsciously prayed. He stood up and walked to her, oblivious to the effects his muscles moving in a natural manner was having on the young girl's mind.

His hair didn't seem one bit out of place, each strand in its place and his widow's peak looking as impeccable as ever. His smooth pale skin, only marred by a few certain yet noticeable scars, stood exposed to the eyes of Jeanne, who was currently in process of trying to restart her heart, yet had no luck as Sephiroth's graceful yet purposeful strides brought the immensely powerful man just two feet in front of the heavily blushing girl.

He took the tray from her hands, yet he was now noticing the glazed over eyes that were currently in the process of memorizing him for future perverted reasons.

'Maybe it wouldn't have been too much to hope for Mother to consume her,' he mused. 'I'm probably going to end up regretting this.'

He waved a hand in front of her face which snapped Jeanne out of her trance. Her face couldn't turn any darker, but she dd start sputtering more.

"AGHH!-a-agh-Sephiroth-kun, good morning!" she chirped nervously, embarrassed by her fallacy moments ago. "I hope y-you like it!" He looked over the tray's contents and noticed that there were several pieces he recognized, like a bowl of miso soup, toast with butter, an apple, and a side of broiled salmon. All in all, it looked infinitely times more filling then the usual breakfast he had.

"I-I'm sorry if it's not much. We shouldn't have left George the duty of going shopping for food," she said sadly. He would've laughed if it wouldn't have been out of character of him.

"Nonsense, Jeanne." Now sitting again, he brought a spoon of soup to his lips and slowly sipped it, making sure it was a manageable amount to swallow and not spit out in case the difference b/w their worlds were too different. Thankfully, he approved of the taste, giving a contented sigh. "This is very good, Jeanne. You should not sell yourself short. When I become ruler of these worlds, I see a job as a chef in your future."

Thinking he had just made a joke while complimenting her, she didn't suspect that he was actually serious since he said it so coolie, like he was having a normal conversation...which he was. "Hehehe, uh-thank you, Sephiroth-_sama,"_ she emphasized the '-sama' to play along and even curtsied with a small bow. "Well, I'll be going then!" In a flash, she had retreated out of sight, most likely to go do something to get the image of Sephiroth's body out of her young mind.

Sephiroth ate his breakfast in relative peace until he was joined by the still naked body of his mother. Her face looked rather relaxed, bringing out her subtle features such as her soft eyes, smooth, grey-ish skin, and general beauty if one were to keep an open mind about some of her dragon-flesh features.

"Good morning, Mother," he spoke. "Did you sleep well?"

**"Yes, Son. It was a strange feeling..to sleep because I wanted to and not from Shinra drugs or to travel across space."** He could feel her pleased feeling through their link, as she could also feel that he had a good sleep as well.

"That's good. How long have you been up?" he asked, liking the feeling of having simple conversation with his mother, something he'd never tried before as they were always planning something.

**"I saw the sun rise, its light waking me up," **she answered. Assuming the planet's rotation speed was anything similar to Gaia's, then Sephiroth assumed Jenova had awoken around 5:30 a.m. "**It was nice. And warm."**

"Yes, I have witnessed my fair share of them, Mother. They are very comforting," he admitted. Jenova glanced over his food curiously. Sephiroth saw it and held his plate out to her. "You want to try some? It's very edible."

Tempted by his offer, she dove into the vortex of memories within her body and witnessed countless scenes of where someone was hitting. Seeing how they handled the utensils and ate the food from them, she tried to mimic the moves, gently taking Sephiroth's fork and picking a piece of warm, broiled salmon. She ate the food slowly, but her eyes slowly widen as she finally registered all the tastes.

The fish fell apart in her mouth with little effort and her tongue was assaulted by a seasoning that had a hint of spiciness. She felt her tongue literally raping the meat in her mouth **(NO PUN INTENDED) **and she eventually swallowed it. Sephiroth watched with amusement as his mother ate the simple meal. It's like she's never eaten a regular breakfast before. Wait...she hasn't. Before he even knew it, what was left of his meal was completely gone and he was looking at Jenova now with a gobsmacked expression.

The looked at him with her pink eyes that seemed more lively then moments ago. "**That was...I believe the word would be delicious.**" Perhaps she's found something of a rival towards living beings to consume, though he was sure she never consumed other beings like she did that fish...did she? The thought of if he was wrong sent a slight shudder through him.

"Mother, I plan on exploring more of the city that our enemies are controlling. Perhaps I will come across some useful information," he announced as he wiped his mouth of any food he might've missed. "You can do what you want, but please try not to draw too much attention so soon."

She thought it over, weighing the pros and cons. To go exploring this new world, or to sit around here? **"I will explore this world as well, Sephiroth. It would be better if I were to not stay here with that human pest any longer."**

"She didn't bother you too much last night, did she?" he asked with a bit of concern. He didn't need his mother ripping Jeanne apart after the first day.

"**I don't like she was holding her body against you like a leech. She is far below us,"** the entity said with bluntness, causing Sephiroth to dig in his ears for any wax.

"You think I would have interests in such things as of now?" He was honestly shocked. She sounded like the average, protective mother just then.

**"I know you don't, but I despise all humans, including these here." **Jenova's glare could melt the polar ice caps right then. Sephiroth chuckled before getting up to put his clothes on. He pulled the pajama pants off, knowing his mother wouldn't care, but after he got them off, their room got another visitor. Ophis was standing at the doorway with some clothes in her arms. She didn't look bothered by his lack of clothes in the least.

"Ophis, good morning," Sephiroth greeted casually. He eyed the clothes with suspicion. Ophis noticed it and dropped them on the nearest bed.

"Morning. If you're going to go exploring the city, those clothes of your will make you stick out. I brought something more conservative," she said. "I'll get someone to have your sweaty clothes cleaned for later." Sephiroth thanked her went over and inspected what she'd brought.

Laid out on the bed was a large, trench coat that looked similar to the German's M42 Greycoat, the only difference being the neck guard (collar) was about four inches high and it's color was a perfect blend of dark grey and faded olive green. It had two rows of six buttons that went up from the waist to the top of the chest, and there was a black, leather belt. Along with the coat were some light brown pants, black socks, and worn leather military boots that were a dark brown.

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

"It belonged to one of the first members of my Khaos Brigade, before even Cao Cao's arrival. I haven't seen him in fifty years, but I kept it in case he might come back."

"Fifty years? Was he human?" Surely, if this guy was apart of this army fifty years ago and was a human, then he wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.

"No," she responded. "He looked human, but was actually a natural Lycan, a powerful werewolf and most likely one of the last of his kind. You two are about the same size." She left without another word, leaving Sephiroth with a few questions in his head.

He didn't argue about its looks and decided to get dressed. He slipped on the socks, followed by the pants and boots. The pants were quiet loose around his legs, so he tucked the leg-ends into his boots which came a little ways above his ankles. He forsook putting a shirt on and just slipped his arms into the sleeves of the coat and pulled it on. Buttoning up the coat, he left the high neck guard undone so he wouldn't look too suspicious cuz he didn't know what was considered suspicious or normal in this world. Also, to button the collar up would hide the lower third-portion his face. He decided to keep his mane of silver hair inside of the jacket since the high collar would undoubtedly be a nuisance.

With everything together, the suit fit Sephiroth very well, almost as if this guy it belonged to was the exact same size as Sephiroth. 'It's not a bad fit,' he thought. In fact, like his other suit, it even looked like it belonged to some military. Seeing as how everything fit well enough for his standards, Sephiroth turned to his mother and gave her a nod.

"I'll be going now. When you go exploring, try to stay out of sight. If you're spotted, then just take care of it anyway you feel." He gave a knowing smile that he was well aware of just how Jenova would 'take care of it.'

**"Of course, Son. However..when the time comes for us to begin, I will waste no time in making up for lost time," **she forewarned.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," he shot back as they made their way through the warehouse. They passed by some other humans they hadn't seen yet, receiving strange looks and returning them with sharp glances or glares that sent them scurrying away. There were a few more sitting at the table in the kitchen eating similar breakfasts to what he and Jenova just had. Just before they could exit, Ophis caught them at the exit of the building.

"Sephiroth."

They turned around to see the Dragon God walking up to them. She took Sephiroth's hand, opened it, and dropped a small stack of yen notes. He didn't need to know what language it was to understand that this was the local currency. "Just in case you two get hungry. Heracles eats most of the food here anyways."

As she walked away, she was stopped by Sephiroth's voice. "Thank you. Have a good day, Ophis." The two left, leaving Ophis to stew over the man's words. No one ever tells her to have a good day. "Baka," she mutters.

Walking down the empty streets, they could see where the inhabited section portions of their area was at. Sephiroth nodded to Jenova, who easily scaled along the wall of a nearby house to get to the roof. Her limbs moved nimbly while her toes dug perches into the wooden exterior like it was nothing. She truly looked otherworldly. Sephiroth himself, despite the clothes given by Ophis, still felt like he was out of place. He had a feeling the people would notice him as well.

When he finally arrived at the outermost populated district, his arrival didn't go unnoticed by anybody. He got atleast a few stares but thankfully, they went about their own business when he just nodded to them. He walked through the streets with his hands in his coat pockets, passing by hundreds of houses. Though there weren't any buildings nearly as big as Shinra HQ, he knew that the number of people in this city outnumbered Midgar by atleast two to one.

Thinking this city might've been a little better then Midgar, he'd still yet to find anything special about it, that is until his vision was filled with pink. All around him were pink petals floating with the breeze. There were perhaps thousands of them, littering the roads, streets, and buildings. He glanced at where they were coming from and went towards it.

He walked for about five minutes til he came upon a small park (**Not the one Issei dies in)** that had dozens of cherry blossom trees lined along a walkway. Their tops were covered in bright pink sakura petals that waved to him as if in greeting. Another small gust blew, and with it, hundreds more of these leaves left their respective branches and rode the draft that circled around the lone swordsman.

The beautiful sight of the petals prancing around his body like some spiritual dance caused several people to watch the display in a bit of awe and knowing. From Sephiroth's reaction, they could tell he wasn't from around here, and childlike curiosity in his eyes told them that he was captivated. In Sephiroth's mind, is was just that. He'd never seen such a leaf color except in one place, and that was Wutai.

He held out his hand and a single petal landed on the black leather of his glove. Gently, he closed his fingers around it, trapping it. 'Such a beautiful thing. It is a shame that these trees are surrounded by so many humans.'

He opens his glove and the petal catches the wind and lifts off to join its kin. The gust moves on from around him and carries to petals to a new destination, leaving him alone with his new feelings on this world. 'Perhaps this world holds much more then Gaia.'

Sephiroth watched as the sakura petals disappeared down the streets, gaining more soft smiles from the locals and several awes and camera shots from tourists. He eventually brought back to mind his purpose for this venture. It was to explore this new world and obtain any possible intelligence on the enemy. In this city, his biggest threats were the peerages of the Gremory and Sitri Clans. He'd memorized everything that Cao Cao had told him during their talk yesterday.

Enemy numbers were an unknown, but a few of the ones he knew were quite renowned for Devils their age. Then there was the supposedly a few small groups of Fallen Angels operating in the area. He would make sure to keep an ever-watchful eye out for anything suspicious and possibly related to any of the three factions. His info on the workings of the Angels in Heaven was very scarce. If he wanted, he could just ask Cao Cao to send him any info on the angels that he gets from his sources, but then that would put him at a severe disadvantage as the human boy would know everything he knows.

He walked through the park, silently enjoying its serenity and lack of humans while also keeping an one eye studying the area for any danger. He didn't get to where he was today being off-guard. Once he exited the park, he was met with a cacophony of noises and smells, all artificially made by humans, the beings that are so high on his shit-list that the Cetra (Ancients) are the only ones he despises more.

In front of him are streets filled with noisy cars that expel obnoxious fumes, sidewalks filled with busy going back and forth from place to place, talking on phones, eating their breakfast, and greeting one another. There were easily hundreds of them on this street alone. He entertained the idea of sending out a random thunder spell at a stop-light, or a firaga at some stores. He idly wondered where he should begin looking for his enemies.

'ah, that's right. Cao Cao said the devils were based at a school...some academy or sorts. The sun just rose above the horizon about two hours ago, so they will probably be starting soon. I could take this time to move about freely with no interruptions. It wouldn't be hard to destroy the school with everyone unaware, but I'll save that for when I'm ready to make my move. Attacking them now will draw unneeded attention.' Sephiroth pondered then to go scout the school anyway yet to refrain fro engaging. After that, he'll scout out the local fallen angel bases.

Objectives clear, he lonely walked down the steadily crowding streets, hands in pockets and minding his own business.

* * *

Leaning against a tree about twenty feet from the sidewalk, just outside of Kuoh Academy, cloaked in the large greycoat Ophis had given to him, Sephiroth watches idly the numerous kids walking to their teaching institution. All wearing the same types of uniforms, gender-wise, the boys and girls that looked mostly no older then fourteen met up with their friends and began chatting happily about what they did last night or yesterday, what the answer to some homework question was, what this 'Kiba-kun' was doing today, and so forth.

'Useless information,' Sephiroth said to himself. Though he wasn't here to listen to the latest gossip, he was here to pick out the devils from the normal kids. There should be atleast ten, maybe less, he figured since this was the home base of two peerages, both not exactly complete yet. He had cast '**Scan**' on himself so his senses might pick up any sort of concealed auras or powers that could be associated with his known enemies. He also figured fallen angels and angels has the same, or similar, energies.

He only got one or two curious stares from a few students, but as he minded his own business, they eventually ignored him and moved on. Most of these kids were completely unaware of their real situation. They ignorantly lived their lives the way their society wants them, whether it be in poverty or in wealth, loneliness or with companions, proactive or like a sloth.

'I will change these worlds,' Sephiroth promised, the fact that these humans know not what lies beyond their senses. 'I may have failed on my first attempt, but I have learned my lesson, paid for it in blood, and have fixed my flaws. This world will bow before me as I will be its savior and judge.'

He feels a tingle in his mind, causing his eyes to slowly open and gaze upon the crowds of kids. Eyes as sharp as an eagle's scanned the crowds for the signature that his ability detected.

'Two signals: one seems like a energy similar to the holy magical element, so either it's an angel or fallen angel. The other one is neither dark nor holy. In fact, it feels faintly similar to Ophis and Great Red. Does that mean it's a dragon?'

Two kids come into view after some of the crowd splits. A young boy and a girl walked side-by-side. Sephiroth silently watched as they approach to other boys who seemed to be shocked about something. He has good hearing, but with the noises of all of the students' chatter and the thirty yard distance b/w him and the signals, he's at a bit of a disadvantage. Well, the talking doesn't last long. The one boy with the dragon-like energy says something that leaves the other two in a stupor as he walks with the girl through the school gate. Sephiroth's gaze is locked on to the two like a homing missile.

Issei had never felt so happy in his life. Yesterday when he was standing against the rail of a bridge near his home, a gorgeous girl had approached and confessed to him. She had been really timid and the blush on her face made her look so cute. He'd been dumbstruck, wondering if his prayers had been answered or if this was fate playing some cruel joke on him. When he accepted and the girl didn't reject him, he very nearly screamed to the heavens in happiness.

Her name was Amano Yuma, a young beautiful girl with long black hair and violet eyes. She had a noticeable figure as her 'assets' filled out her school uniform very well. She was a normally soft-spoken girl who smiled often and despite the fact that Issei was one of the infamous 'Perverted Trio' at Kuoh Academy, she'd developed a soft crush for him as she watched him walk home from school from afar several times.

The two of them had met up earlier so they could walk to school together and both had been blushing slightly and shyly smiling then entire time since. When Issei had introduced her to his two perverted friends, both of the boys speechless and nearly crying at the news of them being together. However, Issei was a friend and gave them some good advice to make them happy, which was to get a girlfriend as well. The two members of the trio were left standing on the sidewalk as if they'd grown roots into the soil beneath.

The two of them were yards from entering the school grounds when both of them stopped, each feeling a sense of unease. Actually, unease is a large understatement. It was definitely the feeling of being watched, that much was obvious to them, though it seemed Yuma was more affected then Issei was. Both glanced around, looking to their sides and over their shoulders. Yuma sees a silver-haired man in a large, buttoned up trench coat leaning against a tree about thirty or forty yards away. For a moment, she makes eye contact, her violet eyes staring uneasily at his pale greenish-blue eyes, his seemingly glowing. Her view is obstructed by a passing student but when she looks again, the man seemingly disappeared.

Suspicious, she pulls on Issei's arm, urging him to get on into the relative safety of the school grounds.

Sephiroth watches them from atop the building adjacent to the tree and school. He had to change locations or risk exposure and if that had happened, then he'd have to kill the two as well as anybody around and that would've caused his plans to go off prematurely. A sudden shock in the back of his head and he becomes aware of his mother's presence joining him. Looking over his shoulder, he sees her casually walking up to him, no sign of fatigue or combat so it's safe to assume she'd cover herself out of trouble.

**"This is the place where our enemies are?"** she asked, her smooth voice flowing from her mouth like the wind. Her pink, pupil-less eyes gazing over the campus.

"Yes, this is where we were told. I haven't felt anything like dark energy, so the devils must already be inside. However..." he trailed off as his gaze followed the figures of the two kids he'd noticed. Jenova followed his gaze and locked on almost as if they were sharing the same vision. "..those two..the boy has energy similar to Ophis, and the girl's energy is much more purer then either dragon or devil. She must be either an angel or fallen."

"**What would you like to do? Kill them?**"

Sephiroth smiled. "No. We will leave the boy alone. If the girl is actually a fallen angel, I'd like to have words with her." He'd rather not use Cao Cao's contacts in Grigori; he knows it'd put him under the scope, in which case, he'll have to go through the trouble of killing him and his followers if they got in his way, in which he'd probably lose Ophis' support; that is, until he gains her support over the human. Til then, he can't lay an unprovoked hand on the boy.

Jenova's eyes glowed and a small smirk peeked through. "**Capture then...**"

"Try not to cause too much attention," he added.

Merely nodding, the two waited til all the kids were inside the school buildings before Jenova moved from their spot as Sephiroth watched from the ledge.

* * *

Several hours into the day, nothing about this school day seemed different for everyone. The girls fawned over both Yuuto Kiba and the duo of Rias and Akeno. While Kiba was blessed with a handsome face, he also had polite manners and a smile that won over the girl population's hearts. The upper-classmen Rias and Akeno were the two most popular girls in the academy, being a seemingly perfect combination of being beautiful and refined. They were often dotted upon by as many women as they were by men.

With their popularity and influence within the school, it was their obligation to see that nothing went wrong, though that task was more for the Student Council team while the Gremory handled any stray devils or other undesirables. Things have been fine as usual today and she and her queen, Akeno, were walking together down the hall towards their first class.

"Today has been a good one so far, Akeno-san. Anything interesting you have planned?" the buxom Gremory heiress asked in a casual manner. Akeno gave her a smile that perfectly hid her truly sadistic nature.

"Not that I'm aware of, though I've been preparing much like you told me too. Do you think that man will come for you next, Bushou?" Akeno had been ordered to begin training her magics harder lately, as has the rest of the peerage.

"Honestly, I doubt it. It all seemed to random, from what my brother's wife told us. The chances of this Sephiroth seeking us out from all the other clans is slim, but it can't hurt to be extra cautious. You aren't hoping we run into him, are you?"

The black haired queen held a index finger to her lip as she imagined the carnage that could follow. "Ara ara, what would make you say such a thing?" she asked innocently, though the smile and light flushing of her cheeks said it all. Rias giggled.

"I know you too well, Akeno-san," she admonished playfully. "Though there's something that's been bugging me today. I've been feeling uneasy." Akeno gives her 'King' a curious gaze.

"Do you sens-" she stopped her speech as they walked by a few students who greeted them like love-struck puppies. Unfortunately for them, the two girls simply greeted them back and kept walking.

'Like I was saying, do you sense something? Maybe it's one of those fallen angels who've been snooping in our territory?" Rias frowned at their mention. Like any devil, they weren't particularly fond of many fallen angels, save for one or two who were actually decent people and NOT trying to kill them. They'd seen a few fallen, either individuals or in a pair, snooping around the city. They haven't bothered the either the Gremory or the Sitri peerages yet, nor any of their contracts, but that could change soon.

"I have felt a fallen angel here and there, but nothing serious about them. However, I can't get over this feeling in the air, it's...just malevolent."

* * *

Yuma stepped out of her class, having requested to go to the bathroom. The teacher hadn't argued but told her not to take too long. She walked down the hall a little ways before veering left to go down the stairs. Though there was a bathroom on her floor, it was still a longer ways away then just going down to the second floor.

The windows that lined the halls gave plenty of sunlight the chance to pour through into the man-made building, especially in the mornings and evenings. Walking down the stairs, her shoes making small *thump* sounds throughout the desolate area. Everything was as silent as a cemetery. She paid it no mind as she entered the second floor.

While going to the bathroom was priority, her mind was still thinking back to that unnerving feeling she got, it seemingly having come from that mysterious man she made eye contact with. He didn't seem like an ordinary human, and she didn't recognize him as was she sure that there were no angels or fallen angels besides her group in the area. She had felt the ill intent from him, something that would be impossible for a human.

In her thinking, she subconsciously lifted her hand up to shield her eyes from the orange sunlight that poured through the windows. Thus sun was especially bright this day. She finally made it to the bathroom but stopped first to get a drink from the water fountain. The sun casting only her shadow on the wall from behind her, she bent over to catch the purified water that shot up from the public fountain. When she finished and wiped her mouth with her hand, she stepped off into the bathroom, but she didn't notice that her shadow had remained on the wall.

Only when the bathroom door closed did the shadow suddenly move, disappearing up the wall.

Yuma hummed to herself as she made her way to the stalls, hoping to quickly relieve the internal pressure in her body. She opened the first stall but nearly vomited as someone had dropped a deuce without flushing. She immediately slammed the stall door shut and moved to the next one. Peeking inside of it, she growled in frustration as this toilet had been clogged with too much toilet paper.

"Damn human girls these days...can't even keep a bathroom clean nowadays," she grumbled. She flung open the third stall door and cursed aloud while pulling her hair. Sitting on the seat of the relatively clean stall was a janitorial note saying 'OUT OF ORDER.'

Approaching the last stall, she opened it and yelled to the heavens in joy, then stopped herself as she realized just who she was praising. 'Dammit, I blame the humans.' The stall was clean and in usable condition. She hurriedly slipped in and locked the door. The moment she lowered her panties, the bathroom light fixtures flicked off then on briefly, causing Yuma to pause in mid-squat. Waiting for a couple of seconds, nothing happened and she finally settled herself on the pot.

'Stupid cheap schools, stupid cheapskate administration,' she thought with ire. As she sat there...doing her '_business'_, the lights began flickering off and on repeatedly again.

''Agh, what's with this school?" she asked aloud. She tried to ignore the flickering lights by focusing more on the urine stream shooting out of her like a geyser. "God, that's the last time I drink apple juice from a vending machine."

**Pppffttttt!**!

The loud noise sounded like all the air being force out of a balloon and with nowhere to go but up, the smelly flatulence forced up Yuma's skirt like she was Marilyn Monroe or someone. The smell that hits her nostrils is powerful and causes the hairs in her nose to curl and shrivel. She began rapidly fanning the air from her face with her hand in an attempt to circulate some fresh air for her.

Her lower abdomen started making strange growling noises that resembled a hungry dog or something. She suddenly felt pressure from within her back door. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, gripped the seat edge and squeezed like her life depended on it.

**PPPPPFFTTTTPPPRRRRPPPRRRPPPF FFFTTTT!**! "OH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" she screamed as her breakfast tore through her rear like a raging, caged animal.

The sound of water splashing loudly filled the empty bathroom, the lights overhead again fighting for whether to cast light or darkness. "SHIT! STUPID, LOUSY, CHEAP LIGHT BULBS!" she yelled irately. As if they were insulted, the lights go completely out. She waits several seconds in hopes they'd function again, but after a whole minute, she curses to herself.

Reaching over to the toilet paper roller, she pulls a few sheets out to wipe her bottom with. She makes sure to not miss since she happens to be wearing a thong.

**(Okay, author's note here. I seriously can't believe I just wrote that. I'm pretty sure it's never been done before on )**

**Cccrrrrrrrkkkkkkk...**

Her attention is drawn towards outside the stalls as the unmistakable sound of the door swinging on old hinges fills the dark room.

"Hey, the lights are busted or something and I'm using the only decent toilet," Yuma calls out in her more sweet tone. Silence reigns supreme as the faint but distinct sounds of footsteps crosses the room, their noise getting louder as the person gets closer. Yuma immediately wondered what was up with this girl. Didn't she hear her?

"Hey, I should be done in a few moments, okay?"

...

Again, no reply whatsoever. As the steps draw nearer, Yuma sees a faint pink glow reflecting off the floor. "You using your cellphone to make some light? Heh, I do wish I had remembered to bring mine," Yuma says, hoping to stoke a conversation since the silence was rather unnerving.

As the glow neared her door, Yuma gasps as she sees the faint pink glow not coming from a phone or some other device, but from a pair of bare feet. The feet had veins that pulsated every few seconds, sending a pulse of pink running up them each time. 'What the HELL is that?!' she wondered in bewilderment. Hoping to keep up a confident front, Yuma compliments them.

"Those are some really cool shoes you have there. Where'd you get them?" 'Yes, just play dumb and innocent and maybe they'll go away,' she thought. She really wasn't in the best position to defend herself if the person turned to be some lunatic.

Yuma quickly finished cleaning her bottom and kept her body away from the door where the strange person was on the other side. The door starts rattling violently as the person began tugging on it, trying to open it. The noise rips rattles the atmosphere of the restroom as Yuma's eyes widen and she found herself scooting up onto the toilet seat, irrational fear from the irrational behavior spooking the hell out of her.

The rattling continued for several moments to the point where Yuma thought the person was going to pull the entire set of stalls from their drilled down position in the floor.

"What the heck is your problem, you psycho?!" the girl shouts.

The rattling suddenly stopped as she yelled. The feet set there for several agonizingly long seconds before stepping back until she could no longer see the glow from them. A bit of light enters the room as she hears the sound of the door squeaking on its hinges again. The sound of footsteps disappear, though there is a ruffling sound as if something being moved.

Yuma sat there in the dark silence for several minutes, not even breathing for fear that that strange person would come back for her.

**BIIIZZZZ! **

"*SHRIEKS*" Yuma puts her hand over her chest as it rose and fell rapidly with her deep, rushing breaths. It was just the lights coming back on. No need to panic anymore. "Finally.." she sighs in a deflated manner. "I have had enough of this haunted house."

She flushes the commode and lifts her provocative underwear back up into its proper place. Opening the door just a little bit, she peeks out for any sign of anything pink and glowing.

Nothing.

'Whew..." she steps out and closes the door, only for the lights to go out again. A small form a fear immediately envelopes the girl as she still like a mouse.

*Click* *Click* *Click*

Soft footsteps with the same glow come from the stall right next to hers. 'Oh, HELL NO!' Yuma tells herself. She moves along the wall to keep as much distance as possible between her and the stall. Just when she makes it beyond the occupied stall, the lights flicker back on. She wipes some rolls of seat from her forehead and turns around just for the lights to go out again.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE!?"

Some strange growling noises along with what sounds like a tongue making clicking sounds comes behind her, making the hair on her body stand up. She jerks around but sees nothing. Suddenly something like and tail-like coils around her upper-body, wrapping under her shoulder and b/w her breasts and then around her neck.

She kicks and claws at anything she can but she can barely get out a scream as her body is quickly hoisted up through the ceiling through an open ceiling square. Muffle screams can be heard up in the ceiling for several seconds before silence.

...

The lights to the bathroom flicker on again, everything the same except for a single two-inch high-heel and a Hello-Ducky hand-purse lying on the ground.

* * *

_Undetermined amount of time later..._

Yuma's eyes shot open as she regained consciousness. She couldn't remember anything except a dark bathroom and a strange pink glow. She struggled to remember, but then one thing stuck out the most. Pink, pupil-less eyes, unlike anything she'd ever seen. Oh, it had terrified her to the point of fainting.

Even though she was sure her eyes were opened, she still couldn't see anything. She could hear and feel the rushing of wind against her body and around her. She tried to move her hands, but they were bound together at the wrists with rope and she was sitting in a metal chair. Yuma grimaced at having been caught and bound so easily.

"It seems you're finally awake,' a smooth, admittedly sexy voice called out from somewhere to her left. Her vision finally returned as a black, burlap sack was removed from around her head. Yuma instantly noticed that they were on top of a very tall building, the sun setting in the distance casting an orange hue over the city.

"I have some questions and I know you have some answers," the voice stated. She jerked her head over and her eyes widened, but then narrowed as she recognized the man in the trench coat that she saw before in front of the school. Now that she was much closer to him, she got a pretty good look at his face.

The face had a slightly pale skin tone yet it was flawless. The man had beautiful greenish-blue eyes that seemed to glow with some form of luminescence. He had a main of silver hair with a widow-s peak on the front that brought a pair of bangs down in front but away from his face. The large faded brownish-green coat covered his body save for his head, but it fit snug around a seemingly muscular and tall frame, much taller then most guys she's seen.

"First, change into your true form," Sephiroth ordered. She gasped as this man somehow knew her real form, but how? She hadn't made any loose ends. He must not be human at all.

"Don't think about lying to me," he said with a cold tone, "You're either an angel or a fallen."

She grumbled in displeasure before suddenly transforming. Her clothes disappeared only to be replaced by a BDXM two-piece dominatrix suit. The ropes and chair that she was tied to broke apart as her black, feathery wings sprouted from her back. Her body grew a few inches and her hair came down to her mid-back. In the matter of a few seconds, Yuma was gone, in her place now stood the fallen angel, Raynare.

Sephiroth, for his sake, didn't comically react or drool at the sight of the girl's revealing clothes. Though her usual smile was gone, she had an annoyed look.

"Alright, you happy now? Just who the hell are you?" Her tone was demanding, something Sephiroth would have to fix.

"I'll not have that tone from you, fallen angel Raynare." His voice was calm, yet it was filled with authority that just made her angry.

"Who the hell do you think you are/ ANd you still didn't answer my question," she shouted.

Sephiroth bent his knees before suddenly vanishing, appearing behind Raynare with his hand clasped on her shoulder. She wasn't expecting the movement and when she tried to turn on him, she found the grip on her shoulder nearly crushing her bones.

"Gaahhh!" The one-winged angel forced the fallen angel to her knees with little effort. She formed a light spear in her right hand but Sephiroth grabbed that arm at the wrist, using his strength to force Raynare's own light spear's tip to her throat. She struggled to break his grip but it was like she was fighting the strength of an archangel or Maou.

"Now that you understand the position you're in, we're going to have a talk," Sephiroth decided, his voice never rising in anger or agitation of her resistance. "I want to know what you know about the devils, fallen angels, and angels in this area. Any information you have, I will have, whether you do so willingly or I have to use more ugly methods."

She paused in struggle she may've been attempting to stare him incredulously. "What are you getting on? You're definitely not a human, so you've got to be one of the other three, yet you talk as if you're not!"

His left hand tightened its grip on her left shoulder, causing it go no limp from the pressure. "That's because I'm not," he replied seriously. "I'm not going to waste time trying to get you to understand all of it. I'm not from this dimension, universe, or world. Me and my mother are currently plotting to take over these worlds and I want to know what you know."

She would have thought he was insane if not for the 'no joking' look on his face. "Who are you?" she asked again, this time more from curiosity and a need to know instead of her earlier reasons.

"My name is Sephiroth, and I believe you've already met my mother, Jenova."

He looked ahead of her, Raynare following his stare towards a strange looking woman. Honestly, this woman was definitely the strangest looking one she'd ever seen. Greyish skin with patches of snake or dragon scales covering several parts of her body in a symmetrical manner, pinkish veins that pulsated with a brighter pink, long hair that looked a mix of white and lavender, a well-developed body with a face that had a certain beautiful mother-look to it, and finally...glowing pink, pupil-less eyes.

"Y-you...you're the one who made me experience the worst bathroom break EVER!"

Sephiroth's brow rose at the claim, looking to his mother for an explanation. "What did you do?"

Jenova gave a spine-shaking smile, one that was rather devious and coy. "**You said to capture her, Sephiroth. I just had fun doing it." **She looked at them both with that same creepy smile, causing Sephiroth to sweat-drop and Raynare to shiver from her bad memories in that dark restroom.

"If that was fun, then you're a fucking sadist like no other," she muttered. The increase in pressure on her right arm made her regret her choice of words.

"Enough then. So, are you going to tell me what I want to know, Raynare?" Sephiroth glanced up at Jenova, who took that as her cue to step towards the restrained fallen angel and begin their method of convincing.

Raynare looked back and forth b/w the two, looking for some clue as to their intentions. "What are you going to do to make me talk? None of the fallen angels would betray Grigori, or Azazel-sama." Sephiroth caught how she mentioned her leader specifically and with a bit of affection. This could make things messy then.

"The Grigori already has traitors in its ranks, as well as Heaven and the Underworld," he replied without missing a beat. "I could have just used one of my associate's connections, but I don't trust him. He wants to destroy all of the other races while I want to rule them."

Jenova brought her hands to cup Raynare's cheeks, not caring if the woman was looking away from her.

"If you don't co-operate, I'll have Mother find out for me. She is a unique being. She can consume other organisms and gain not only their abilities and characteristics to use as she pleases, but also access to their memories and knowledge as well. You would be just one among the thousands inside of her should you refuse to answer my questions."

Raynare's body shivered as she felt a strange numbing sensation spread through her cheeks and face, all originating from Jenova's hands. The feeling spread to her chest, torso, and then her arms. Risking a glance, Raynare's eyes caught sight of a fearful sight. All along her arm that she was looking at were dozens, if not hundreds, of pink and purple veins webbing and snaking their way throughout her skin. She could feel them penetrate deeper into her body, going through the muscle and into her bones. Fear began building up inside her chest, her breathing getting heavier and faster.

"When she's done consuming you, there will be nothing left of your body. No one will know what happened to you. Your allies may look for you, but they will eventually give you, leaving you to a fate of eternal despair as you live and are used inside of my Mother's body and mind." Sephiroth spoke as if he was citing a quote from a book, his face uncaring for her position.

He released his grip on her shoulder and arm, the limb falling down to her side like its twin and her body to slump forward, held up on by Jenova's hands. Raynare couldn't move her body, except her head, yet with it held, she was forced to look into the unforgiving and merciless eyes of this woman...this monster! Never had she heard of something with such a horrendous ability! Instead of her heartbeat increasing to match her level of fear, it was slowing down as the numbing sensation was now entering her nervous system.

She couldn't believe her sorry luck. She'd worked her butt off climbing the ranks of Grigori, suffering both physical hardships from her relentless effort and mental punishment from enduring all of the nasty rumors and lies the other fallen angels spread about her. She thought about Azazel and Shemhazai, and how she'd put forth so much of her time and effort yet given soo little in return. Why couldn't they have stopped the rumors?! Why couldn't they have given her the gratitude and praise she'd so rightfully earned.

Suddenly, she found her mind being dragged from her realm. Next were blurring lights and then rapidly changing images. She saw..this monster, yet it was in some sort of sleep. She saw it awakening...then..it consuming thousands, no MILLIONS of beings over the period of its life..then sleep again. Next, there was nothing but a bright green that reminded her of the glow in Sephiroth's eyes. She saw humans in lab coats looking at her through the glass of some container. Then she saw fire..fire and dead bodies and in the center of it all was Sephiroth, though he was wearing a black coat that opened in the middle to show his chest. She saw him with a single large, black wing coming from his right shoulder-blade and his left hand holding a long, beautiful sword.

The rest of the images went by too fast for her to see them properly before her consciousness was brought back to reality. She could feel most of her body now succumbed to the numbness and her being slowly being drained by this thing. Seeing what she just saw, there wasn't any other choice she had to make.

With the rest of the strength in her body, she muttered 'Stop...', then slowly...slowly but SURELY, she could feel parts of her body again. Her breathing returned to normal, the sleep that had enveloped her body went away and she could feel the wind against her skin again. She flexed her arms and wings for several minutes to get the blood flowing back into the appendages. 'Thank goodness..' she cried to herself, the fear of not dying but being consumed and imprisoned for eternity taking its toll on her mind.

Like a rock, she dropped back onto her body, but a pair a strong arms caught her around the waist. They slowly set her down on the ground, void of any pain that would've occurred to her rump from the drop she was attempting. She looked over her shoulder into the cold yet vibrant colored eyes of the man whom she'd just seen slaughter hundreds, if not thousands, in his military career and crusade.

"So..will you answer my questions?" he asked for a final time.

Shakily, she nodded her head up and dead rapidly numerous times, earning a low grumble from Jenova.

'Perfect,' Sephiroth mused.

* * *

**A/N: Well, I've got to say, this chapter was waaayyyy overdue, but I think it was worth it. It might just be my best one yet. I was stuck for the longest time, first from a trip to Texas for Christmas break where there was almost no internet, then when I get back, I'm having to go job hunting. Ughhh, my life womps, but I think Raynare would call me a pansy for that. I had several ways to illustrate a way for Jenova to consume her prey, some that would keep you all awake at night, so I just went with what you read. I had the most fun writing that bathroom horror scene. I might've dragged it out too much, but I don't regret it.**

**Again, I'm sorry for the wait, and I'm hoping you all will forgive me...with reviews. XD Man, who the hell do I think I am, asking for reviews after making you all wait so long. Anyway, I'm hoping to get 100 reviews 14, but if I can impress you all enough, then by chapter 10 would be the best late Christmas present you could give me.**

**A little spoiler for next chapter, Sephiroth is going to have a chance meeting with another character, though it should be no surprise who it is. Onto another note, the scores are in and The Fallen Ones have won the vote for team name. Congrats and pat yourself on the back people! Speaking of team, now on to the members...nothing has changed, though I've been watching Witchblade, so I'm thinking of letting either Shiori or Masane make a cameo appearance, like with Lucy and Seras.**

**THAT BRINGS ME TO ANOTHER POINT. I may have said that I wish the writer's would have made a second Elfen Lied season, but I had neglected to read the rest of the manga, in which Lucy dies and my heart is shattered. She totally deserved more then what she got, cuz her life had so much shit in it, it could have been mistaken for George Clooney's academy award acceptance speech from a few years back.**

**Anyway, I don't know when to expect the next chapter. If there's something you wouldn't mind me writing in it, please let me know via pm or review. Also, if anyone wants to guess the hidden meaning of the title of this chapter, feel free to try. REVIEW PLEASE! Thank you and until next time, rock on. lml**


	8. Full of Surprises (end of Arrival Arc)

**_Prepare for wall post!_**

**_Hey folks, this is Lucas Bane with another exciting chapter for you all! 20,656 words to be exact._**

**_It's the chapter most of you have been salivating and dry-humping my pm box for. Now that's out of the way, I just want to say DAMN. Within the first week of posting that last chapter, I got 24 reviews and like almost 20 story favs and alerts, as well as 4-5 author favs and alerts. I don't know why, but I think I stumbled upon some hidden, online cult of Witchblade worshipers since half of those reviews were voting for either Masane or Shiori from the Witchblade verse to make an appearance, and ALL of them were from Lithuania and ALL of their accounts were made within two weeks of each other, and ALL of them had the same favorite stories and authors_****_._**

**_ Now that I've actually seen what Masane is capable of in action from watching the anime, I would be in my right to replace a weaker member of the future team 'The Fallen Ones', but I stick by my word, which has deemed the polls closed. If you're upset, then you should've suggested either of them to me while the poll was open, but noooope, so they will have to be cameos._**

**_Now back to the thing I was talking about, I almost shat myself when my yahoo messenger said I had 59 new messages, and all of them being something related to the story. I want to thank you all, both new and old viewers, for the attention, opinions, questions, praises, encouragements and patience. I've yet to get one flame so I guess I'm doing something right. Perhaps I can really get to 100 reviews by chapter 10 if everyone who reviewed last chapter reviews again for this chapter. REVIEWS INSPIRE ME TO WRITE FASTER!_**

**_On to another issue. This chapter would've gotten out faster, but the text in the doc manager is super small and is causing havoc on my eyesight. Someone told me to press the control button then scroll on some bar, but nothing like that happens. I could use some help with this._**

**_Also, I did get one review asking me to update my bleach fic. 'A Child's Journey' is my favorite fic right now, it's just my muse for it has been coming and going like a black kid's father. OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH! Just kidding. XD 'ACJ' will be finished, I promise. In fact, it's actually going to be a series, and the story only has about five more chapters. However, I'm suppose to be getting shipped out for basic training by June or July, so I'm going to have to hurry my lethargic ass up._**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD, nor Final Fantasy, nor (SPOILER!) Devil May Cry, but I think I've made something grander and I am staking my claim to it as if it were any of the ladies on Seph's team, including Cameos and future OCs. I own Final Fantasy Highschool DxD: Advent Nightmare's plot, character interactions, and whatever OC species I come up with. FF.N is my canvas, the games/movies/anime/manga/fanfics are my tools, but FFHSDxD:AN is my story, my painting..my child._**

**_P.S. I'll be using OSTs to set the mood for certain fights, also, READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END! I'M SURE YOU'LL ENJOY THE SURPRISE! YOU REVIEWERS EARNED IT!_**

**_P.S.S. Thorndsword pointed out a section of Freed's fight that I posted twice. I've fixed this problem._**

* * *

_"So...what you're telling me is that there's some Fallen Angel who possesses an incredible amount of power and that not only has he attacked two peerages belonging to High-class devils, but seems to have been friends, or acquaintances, with the Dragon God, Ophis, herself, who hasn't been heard from or seen in three hundred years?" Azazel asked in a serious way._

Raynare, now released from by her insane captives, glanced over her shoulder one last time at the mother/son duo before activating a seal beneath and above her body. In a mixture of bright and dark lights that leaned towards purple colors, her body disappeared to return to her group's base of operations-the abandoned church atop the high hill in Sorami City.

_"Yes, Azazel-sama. I saw everything, yet I was too far away to hear any words that might've been spoken. I was still close enough to see blood drawn from several of this man's strikes, and I can still feel the heat all over my body from the huge explosion of whatever magic he used at the end."_

Sephiroth and Jenova watched with interest Raynare leave, wondering how they too could learn such a useful technique. Jenova was starting to wish Sephiroth would've allowed her to consume the fallen angel to learn that neat trick. With much information gained and a new spy (for the time being), the odd mother and son pair leaped from the rooftop they were on to return to the warehouse that Ophis and the 'Hero Faction' were residing at.

_Azazel sighed and slammed a fist on to the table. He then pointed a finger up at Ezek. "I recognize no one by that description and from what time you told me, it seems there was a reason for that strange power surge to tear the skies of the Underworld wide-open." Ezek looked confused from the last part, but Azazel stopped him. "Your patrol group was out of range apparently, but there was a massive disturbance in the atmosphere of the Underworld. If you're timing is correct, then it seems 'something' or 'someone' had slipped through."_

Raynare arrived at the church, ignoring the exiled priests who greeted her and waved off her three fellow fallen companions. She went back into the church to where an empty storage closet was and locked herself in. Sitting on her tail, her face looked troubled, her facial muscles contorted and her eyes shut tight.

_"We are still recovering from that horrible war so long ago. We lost so many lives. We can't afford to have some rogued fallen, if he is even that, bring the wrath of the Underworld's legions upon us again. We'll have a face artist sketch out what you describe and then we'll make known to the devils that we had no part in it. We'll also have to do something about your group's battle with the peerages, since no doubt the survivors will already speak about that as well. Sirzechs is no fool or one to be bullied. That was his cousin who was seriously injured from what you described. Plus, Asmodeus lost his younger brother and the heir to his family's clan. He and that clan will not sit idle for what has transpired and they'll sooner declare war on Grigori again just to make sure both the stranger and the rest of your group are among the dead."_

Sephiroth and Jenova returned and were introduced to some more members of the Hero's Faction, one being Siegfried who was glad to have met another avid swordsman. He showed Sephiroth some of his demonic swords and explained a few of their abilities, one certain thing catching the one-winged angel's fancy. It is this thing that gets Sephiroth to let the human inspect his Masamune in return as the two conversed.

"_But Governor, if he is allied with the Dragon God, Ophis, wouldn't it be better if we were to ally ourselves with them? We lost many of our ranks during the Great War, and we were lucky that you and the other generals weren't killed like the Maou and God were when we all banded together to fight and seal away the two Heavenly Dragons, and it's said that it would take ten heavenly dragons to match the power of just Ophis! With the armies of Heaven without their God, and the forces of the Underworld more than halved from their original numbers, we could certainly defeat them with Ophis' help!"_

An isolated spot in the park began showing strange events. The leaves that had fallen from the cherry blossom trees began twirling about ominously since there was wind when there shouldn't have been. Any of the birds that were nearby had felt this disturbance and made effort to put much difference between them and the strange feeling. The trees around the source of the occurrence began widening as if they were being stretched. With a sudden tearing sound, a hole opened up from thin air, showing nothing inside of it except a black void.

_"While the idea is one that seems necessary, I have a bad feeling about this. We know nothing of this man or where his allegiance lies. Not only that, but Ophis is one who has avoided the three factions simply because it has no care for us. Why would it change its mind now, and ally with this man? There are just too many unknown factors for us to make a huge decision such as that, Ezek," Azazel explained firmly._

The faint sound of steps echo from within the strange void for a few moments before a figure stumbles out of it. The humanoid was a male with white hair laid back, though it was more disheveled than it originally intended to be. He wore a regal blue coat that seemed fit for nobility of a European decent. He had sharp facial features on a face fit for a noble or model. Strapped to his side in a long sheathe was an equally long sword that was slightly curved, giving it a distinct Japanese origin.

Standing up and straightening himself out, the mysterious swordsman gave his surroundings a complete once-over. Confusion marred his facial features as he took it all in. He took a moment to run his left hand through his hair, positioning it all backwards.

Unsure of his location, he strode off in a random direction, though perhaps it's not some random as he seemed to be following some sort of feeling.

* * *

Sephiroth was standing silently on the rooftop of the warehouse base, gazing over the city that was illuminated by the massive waning gibbous that hung in the night sky. He was calmly stewing over all the things he'd seen and learned today. He and Mother had a interesting and very insightful day in the city.

Sephiroth had not managed to find any of the devils, yet he'd detected a dragon's energy like Ophis with his ability given by the Scan materia inside of his body. While the energy was very weak, it was also premature apparently. Then he'd struck gold with the fallen angel he'd Mother capture. The information she yielded to them was very helpful

Apparently, the fallen angel Raynare had been given orders by their leader, Azazel, to watch a boy, the same one he'd felt the dragon energy from, to keep an eye on his Sacred Gear. She wasn't told what it contained, but her leader had hinted that if it went out of control then it'd be disastrous for the three factions and the humans. She'd planned to assassinate the boy to prevent the chance of it going berserk or being used against them.

Then she'd told him about their operation in the abandoned church at the top of the large hill within the city limits. Their numbers included three other fallen angels, a lunatic of an exiled exorcist, and seventy-three followers who defected from the teachings of the Church. Raynare said that she was leading the group, so he assumed that he could wipe them out single-handedly if he so wished.

She had spilled that she was after the Sacred Gear 'Twilight Healing' of a nun she'd somehow got the Vatican to transfer over to Japan. When asked about the Twilight Healing, Raynare told him that it could heal the wounds and restore the magic of any being, no matter if they be devil, human, or angel. That type of magic was apparently very rare and valuable.

The last useful piece of information he'd extracted from Raynare was something he thought might have use for later. There were silent, as though spoken behind sealed doors and complete privacy in silent whispers, talks about striking back at the other factions. Their leader was using mainly a pacifistic law to keep them out of any more large wars. It was a wise move since they suffered a large percentage of losses then the angels or devils.

Sephiroth openly ridiculed the war mongers in front of the fallen angel's face, much to her chagrin, but not for the reasons she was thinking. It was not for the idea of fighting the other two factions, but for their lack of foresight. He knew he could do better given if he had both time and accurate intelligence.

The number of Fallen Angels numbered at about 254,000 strong. About 22,000 fallen, give or take a few hundred and include the exiled priests, were not happy with the "peace" between the devils, angels and fallen. From what Raynare knew, the Devils had about 530,000 devils, including battle capable familiars and reincarnated devils. Now the angels, from what she remembered before she was cast out from their ranks, had somewhere from 450-650 thousand soldiers, including priests and exorcists.

It was A LOT to think about. Just one faction had more soldiers then all of the might of Shinra, whom had about 10,000 troops, not counting battle mechs or DeepGround. Any battle between the factions could be different, from just a couple of squads to entire divisions of tens of thousands the likes of which he's never faced. He really had his work cut out for him.

The most surprising part was the number of humans inhabiting earth. On Gaia, the number was probably one to two hundred thousand, but here…. the number was over 6.5 BILLION and rising ever more!

How could this planet support that much human life?

What type of energy source did they possess to keep that many beings living comfortably? Sephiroth hasn't noticed any mako reactors at all, which back on Gaia, would be unheard of for a city of this size.

Not only that, but humanity's levels of technology and military power were above that of Shinra's. While there weren't any known form of super-human experiments like SOLDIER, they had weapons that could wipe out entire cities or small countries, hundreds of machines in space that gave them a bird's eye-view of the world, and tens of thousands of flying, swimming, and land mechs that could put even Shinra's finest mechs to shame.

He and Mother definitely had their work cut out for them if they were to take over these worlds.

Sephiroth was stirred from his contemplation by a feeling. The feeling was nothing like magic or some technique one could learn in a few days, weeks, months, or even a few years. It was something every creature is born with and must develop. Some people don't develop it at all, while others live their lives by it.

Instinct.

And Sephiroth's instincts were telling him that there was someone with a great amount of dark energy, greater than any he's felt during his arrival to this realm. He was actually impressed with it as he hasn't felt this kind of dark pressure since his days in SOLDIER. While any soldier or warrior would be on alert, he was that and excited. Perhaps this person could give him a worthy fight if they resorted to swordplay.

Not wanting to pass this chance up, as well as to appease his curiosity, Sephiroth leapt impressively from his spot to the rooftop a couple of buildings over. His feet impacted the ground softly, defying what the laws of gravity demanded. Yet despite this, he was in the air again, soaring towards another building. Sephiroth repeated this several times, quickly making his way towards the source of his curiosity.

A minute later, Sephiroth found himself in the same park from today. The light of the moon in the night sky gave the forest a light glow as it reflected off the cherry blossom trees around him. He stood quietly though moving his head from right to left in search of his objective.

_Ssssrrrrrnnnnkkk_…

A familiar noise reaches Sephiroth's ears and his instincts warned him to dodge. He rolled to the right just as he felt some invisible force whip past him and hit a tree. Nothing seemed to change, but he recognized the sound he'd heard. It was the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheathe.

_Clink_…

What sounded like the sword being pushed back into its sheath and locked in met Sephiroth's keen ears. As if following its signal, the tree that had been seemingly unaffected by the invisible force fell down, revealing it had been bisected in several places.

'Was that some form of magic? No…I have a similar technique, though it's visible,' he thought.

"You have impressive reflexes, stranger," a voice called out from behind a tree about thirty feet away.

The attacker walked out with relaxed and confident steps, revealing a white-haired man in what looked to be expensive clothes. He sported a regal blue coat that was left open and fell to his thighs, a black undershirt and trousers.

However, the one thing Sephiroth noticed instantly was the long sword in the man's left hand. It was at home in its sheath, but from the curve of it, he'd say the design was similar to his own blade.

"So you're the one whose energy I felt," Sephiroth more than stated instead of asked, cuz it was obvious at this point.

Now that Sephiroth was up close, he could definitely feel a dark aura from this man who held himself with an air of stature and pride. "Are you a devil?"

The man didn't seem surprised by the mentioning of devils, yet he held a bit of disdain on his features from the question.

"No, I'm half devil and half human; the son of the great devil warrior known as Sparda."

'Sparda..Sparda…' Sephiroth ran the name through his memories but couldn't recognize it. "Never heard of him."

THAT elicited a reaction from the man, who looked thoroughly surprised and in disbelief. "You say that so calmly. How can you know of devils yet not of the greatest warrior who ever lived and even saved the world?"

Everything this fella was saying was drawing a blank look from Sephiroth. "I'm new to this dimension, but I intend to rule it soon enough so it won't matter."

The stranger didn't scoff at the plan nor condemn it. He eyed Sephiroth like a combatant does his enemy. There didn't seem to be anything overly special about this person and there was no sign of any weapon, unless he was hiding them under that trench coat. But…this man said he was new to this dimension. He'd never traveled dimensions before, though going from the human world to the Hell and back probably didn't count since this man knew of devils but not of Sparda.

"That's a big goal. I would like to know whom I'm speaking too. You can call me Vergil," the now-identified Vergil offered as he drew his sword from the royal blue sheath.

Sephiroth eyed the man before him and his sword with interest. "I am known as the One-Winged Angel, among other monikers, but my name is Sephiroth." He held out his hand horizontally and his Masamune appeared in all its eight feet of glory.

The appearance of the blade made this Vergil's eyes widen before they settled back into a calm manner. "Another avid swordsman? This will be a nice change of pace," he replied before dashing towards Sephiroth.

Sephiroth rushed forward to meet the charge and their blades met with a loud '_CLAAANG_!', causing sparks to shower between the two opposing metals.

Both men pressed their blades against one another, but they could tell that neither was really putting forth a lot of effort into the deadlock. Both seemed equally matched in height and strength at the moment; the only difference between them was that Vergil's face was a stoic mask of concentration while Sephiroth's had a soft smile. With another push, both jumped back to put some distance between them and began circling each other with slow steps.

"That's a fine blade," Vergil commented, his eyes fixated on Sephiroth's nodachi. "A sword of that quality has to have a name."

"You're right. It's called Masamune," Sephiroth responded. "And how about your blade? It's certainly a well-made sword."

"Yamato, a memento from my father," Vergil replied with a hint of pride and fondness that Sephiroth didn't miss. "The chance seems too good to pass up. Shall we honor our swords by pitting them against each other to see which is better?"

"No argument here," the other responded, both men now sharing a smile, eager to test the mettle of their fine swords.

**[Battle Music- Sephiroth vs Vergil- song: 'Greatest Battle Music Fairy Tail- Main theme' (you might have to put it on repeat)]**

Quicker than the blink of an eye, both men seemingly disappeared, but to the more trained eyes of those who have decades of fighting supernatural or super-powered creatures under their belts, they'd see that it was merely the unreal speed of both men.

_SHIIIINNG!_

CLAAANG!

The two swordsmen couldn't be seen to the untrained eye, only the blue spark whenever their swords made contact, and right now, it was looking like some invisible entity was waving around a sparkler. A dozen strikes later, both men came to another deadlock, sparks flying out from where Yamato and Masamune touched as both men's faces were a mere foot apart with smiles plastered on them.

Their swords struggled for dominance, though it seemed half-hearted at most since both of their wielders had yet to use both hands to grip their swords.

"I'm amazed you can move such a long sword so fast and fluently," Vergil complimented with genuine praise. Sephiroth took it to heart since it was coming from someone who was very skilled as well.

"Years of practice, plus this sword was made for me. You're an exemplary fighter as well. Let us continue."

Sephiroth gripped his other hand to his sword's hilt and with added strength, threw Vergil back tens of yards. He didn't let the hybrid have a chance to recover as he pressed forward with a thrust, his dirt-colored trench coat billowing wildly from his speed. Vergil side-stepped to let the blade slip past him by mere inches with his Yamato was already raised overhead in a counter-strike position. Sephiroth saw the blade come down at him and brought his sword up to block. Forced into a half-kneeling position from the maneuver, it left him off-balanced which Vergil capitalized with a kick to the chest. The blow sent Sephiroth back towards a tree.

Vergil then swung his sword several times, generated sharp pressure blades in the air that were sailing right towards the tree Sephiroth would impact. Flipping backwards, Sephiroth found purchase with his feet against the tree back and suddenly disappeared as the pressure slices ripped apart the tree.

The act caused Vergil's eyes to widen as he wasn't expecting that. He knew it wasn't speed or else he would've seen something. No..this Sephiroth had used teleportation. The whistling of air behind him spurned the half-devil to spin in time to parry a strike that would have bisected him from top to bottom.

Sephiroth's blade was inches from Vergil's head.

"You have excellent instincts and skills. You are much more fun than those devils I fought two days ago," he stated as the two grinded their blades together for dominance.

"You say you're half devil and half human, yet you're much superior to the full devils I fought. Why is this?"

Vergil ducked and rolled to the side in hopes of letting Sephiroth's own pressure throw him off-balance. He managed to bring his blade upon Sephiroth but the one-winged angel hoped backwards out of range.

"Because the blood of my father flows strong within my veins," Vergil finally replied. "And how is it you've gained your strength?"

Sephiroth was silent for a brief moment before chuckling. "Coincidentally, my strength comes from the blood of my Mother."

A small smirk formed on Vergil's lips. "Similar we are." Suddenly Vergil's power began growing tremendously as his body gained an ethereal blue aura. "Let's see whose blood is stronger."

With an outburst of demonic energy, Vergil's form changed drastically. His body appeared to stay the same, the only differences being a reverse-held sword the same color as his coat attached to his left coat wrist while his head became triangular in shape, like a T-shaped, 3-D block. His eyes turned green like emerald gems and his face blackened and filled with sharp teeth. The top portion of his head was white while his face was narrow like a rectangle.

"I will give you despair," Vergil's now disembodied voice spoke. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes in slight irritation.

'He stole my phrase.'

Sephiroth felt the energy rippling from the man's demonic form and knew he'd have to step up his game to match him. Taking a crouching stance, he built up his own power levels, his aura becoming green with a hint of blue.

He sighed as he didn't even use this power level to fight Genesis or Angeal. His eyes seemed to glow the same color as his aura, and his soft neutral gaze was replaced with a sharp smile.

Meanwhile, something else was going on over several locations in Sorami City. Ajuka Beelzebub had recently finished his 'Sephiroth Energy Scanners' that he'd programmed to scan for any energy signatures similar to the sample of dark energy remnant of Sephiroth's magic attack. Once he had finished the design, it was child's play to mass-produce hundreds of them to drop over the country of Japan. Many more would follow over the world until Sephiroth was found.

The probe looked like the floating black drones from Star Wars, except instead of talking in some weird robotic language, it was making the 'beeps', the 'boops', and the 'bops'.

Upon entry into the human world, they almost immediately pick up a signature that's as close of a match as one can get without being a perfect match. The drones began transmitting the data back to the more sophisticated lab of Beelzebub instead of the field lab.

Back in the Underworld, the Satan was responding excitedly to the readings. His eyes looked over the data being sent and a creepy smile spread across his face.

"Sirzechs, we've already got a reading!"

Not three seconds later, a crimson-haired Maou wrapped in numerous bandages and sporting a neck brace stumbled through the doors, having been resting after his ordeal with a disgruntled Grayfia.

"That was quick," he grumbled as he hobbled over to stare over his friend's shoulder. "What's it saying?"

His eyes scanned over the strange machinery and he couldn't ever hope to learn what half the stuff was for. "The drone is picking up an energy signature that is very similar to the sample I recovered earlier. My God…" he ignored the burning shock and the migraine that invaded his body from saying a holy name.

Sirzechs was now more curious as his friend's eyes were widening. "Ummm, Hello? Underworld to Ajuka?"

Finally the scientist seemed to have regain his composure, albeit barely. "His power level… it's over NINE THOUSAND!" he yelled as the circuits fried themselves.

The Lucifer's eyes widened considerably. "WHAT? THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

Back at the area in the park, the surrounding area was quickly being destroyed from the level of energy emanating from both warriors. When their powers seemed to peak, both launched forward like the road-runner on crack and without the 'beep beep'.

Both beings' swords swung towards their targets, arcs of energy tailing behind the blades. When they met, a blue and green explosion ripped across the land in long lines of energy, bisecting trees, hills, rocks, and even buildings. Luckily for the humans, the buildings surrounding the park were mainly advertising, modeling, and a couple of small local news stations, all of which had minimal to zero personnel inside. This however didn't stop those buildings from collapsing on top of themselves.

As if that wasn't enough, imagine this effect repeating itself over and over again over a hundred times but far too fast to easily count. Blue and green swords struck each other with blinding speed and startling precision, the movements of the two warriors long since invisible to the naked eye. Slowing it down so I can now write it out for you all to read, the rest of the fight went a little something like this.

Vergil dove forward with a thrust aimed for Sephiroth's gut, but deflected. He ducked underneath the swing of the Masamune, spinning clock-wise and swinging upwards towards Sephiroth's exposed torso, yet the man disappeared via that teleportation skill of his. All that was greeting Vergil were a few black feathers. He didn't waste time gawking as he sensed the counter-attack from above him, just bringing his Yamato up to meet the downward strike from his foe.

The pressure caused a five foot deep crater to form under Vergil's feet, yet it all disappeared as Sephiroth flashed from existence and back into a crouch position in front of the man, his sword already moving to cut the hybrid in half. Vergil was able to keep his balance unlike the first time Sephiroth performed that maneuver and successfully brought his sword down to stop the blow.

Vergil swooshed backwards than circled Sephiroth with a speed that left blue ghost-like apparitions in his wake. In seconds, his speed became quick enough that his circling left atleast fifteen afterimages around Sephiroth. Almost simultaneously, they all raised their blades, mirroring that which the original did. Sephiroth readied himself as best he could while keeping his calm exterior.

'They all are still afterimages. They can't hurt me except for the real one. They won't make a move towards me unless their original does so before, or else these apparitions would be useless." His eyes didn't bother scanning for the real one, only looking out for whoever moved first.'

Vergil kept Sephiroth waiting for several more moments before making his move. He rushed at Sephiroth from the front, knowing that he was easily expecting a move from behind to be the highest probable one. Sephiroth remained unfazed and brought his guard up as soon as he noticed the straight-forward attack. The two swords clashed violently, yet the one of the other Vergil's came in before the pressure even let up on his sword. Feeling the illusion-like speed, he cut through the Vergil that had been to defend against the newer one.

'He has impressive speed. He left an afterimage that still had some of his strength in it.' Sephiroth stopped his appraising as this Vergil faded away as he swung Masamune right through him. The next attack was coming from behind! Sephiroth ducked forward, Vergil's sword passing overhead by a foot. He was greeted with a blue knee to the face for his efforts, sending him flying into the air.

Sephiroth was surprised by the strength behind the knee, but experience has taught him to ignore hits like these during a battle for your life. Gathering magic into his right hand, a black orb began growing. When it was about the size of a softball, he threw it towards the earth. "**Flare**."

The flare spell crashed into the ground like a meteor before exploding with the force of a tomahawk cruise missile (the destructive range of a tomahawk cruise missile is about 2 city blocks). All Sephiroth could see below him was a large fog of dust, dirt, and burnt pieces of the wildlife where Vergil had been. Not waiting for the dust to settle, he powered up an **Aeroja** (Aero lv. 4) spell, white wind swirling around his right hand. The spell launched like a bullet and hit the ground somewhere, summoning a small tornado that blew away the dust instead of sucking it in.

Sephiroth about chided himself when the dispelling dust cloud revealed a glowing Vergil who was powering up a blue orb at the end of his sword. He could tell that the demonic man wasn't expecting the aero spell to disperse his cover. In preparation, Sephiroth hand began glowing purple.

"**Reflectga**." (Reflect, lv. 3, reflects all magic spells back at their caster.) Purple, semi-transparent, hexagonal plates covered him in a sphere before disappearing.

"Know your end!" the deep voice of Vergil's Devil Trigger form announced. He launched the blue orb, it actually being a large, blue beam of raw energy. The beam was about ten feet across and was moving like a bullet train towards Sephiroth. The floating swordsman could have moved out of the way, but why bother since he'd put up a spell. He wasn't arrogant now, but he needed to see what would work against what for future reference.

The blast hit him straight on, consuming him from view. To all, it seemed that Sephiroth was swallowed up by the attack, but for said man, he was watching the blue energy around him from inside of his purple shell. It began glowing a bright purple as it started absorbing the blast. He was genuinely relieved that this Vergil used magic that his spells could defend against.

For Vergil, he smirked as he believed to have dealt a serious blow. However, within seconds of the attack, he noticed his beam shrinking. When the attack finally stopped, the rest of the energy continuing like before except it was all converging into a sphere. While that was happening, three insanely long lines of blue energy lashed out from within the sphere of energy, the arcs stretching out for about a hundred yards.

Vergil slashed through the attacks as they came, idly noticing that they bisected all the trees with seemingly no effort. When he looked back at the sphere, his eyes widened in shock as all the energy from his attack exploded outward into dozens and dozens of beams that curved towards him like heat-seekers. Springing off to avoid the blast, he noted with extreme ire the beams of energy moving to follow him.

Jumping from left to right constantly and in no specific manner, Vergil attempted to dodge the relentless counter-attacks, yet there were a few times when one almost nicked him. Slashing across one of the beams, he finds it's his own power that's attacking him.

'Is this some sort of magic he's tainted my blast with?'

Batting it to the ground, he began cutting the rest as they drew near to him. As the last one is finally cut down, he looks around to search for Sephiroth but is stopped by a long, slender blade piercing his chest from behind. Gasping, he tries to walk forward off the blade since no simple attempt could kill him, yet his feet suddenly leaves the ground as the blade is raised, lifting his body about five off the ground. With his weight now acting against him and agitating his wound further, he growls as his devil trigger form runs out of energy and he's back to his normal self.

**[End music]**

"You were a very good opponent," the now all-to-familiar voice of Sephiroth speak from behind him.

Vergil glares at the swordsman from over his shoulder, noting the man is using only one arm to lift both his body and the blade with little effort. An unsurprising feat now that he thinks about it.

"A wound like this won't kill me, so any last words you thought of saying would be wasted," Vergil informed with a more calm manner than a few moments ago.

"So what would it take then?" Sephiroth asked with a hint of amusement.

The son of Sparda scoffed at the question as he couldn't really think of anything specific. "I have been dealt far more numerous and worse wounds, but I find myself low on energy from earlier battles. I will give you this victory. You've earned it since I've never found myself in a position like this," he comments while still hanging in the air.

"Oooh, and this is coming from the one who is impaled through the heart and is being held in the air," the 'victor' joked. He lowered his sword til Vergil feet touched the ground, at which point the man simply walked forward til Masamune pulled from his body. Bending over with some strain, he picked up his Yamato sword and flicked it a couple of times before sheathing it once again.

"Pardon me for having our duel end so quickly. I've just yet to recover from an earlier series of battles. Having to fight your brother, lose, then fight the lord of Hell should earn some reprieve, yet I find myself in the human world again battling another super-human being."

He noticed Sephiroth staring intently at him now. "What is it?"

"You said you fought the lord of Hell? Do you mean one of the four Satans?" Sephiroth asked, wondering if his mission just got that much easier, yet now Vergil seemed confused.

"One of the four Satans? There are no such beings in the Underworld. I speak of Mundas."

Cao Cao and Ophis never once mentioned someone named Mundas. Being 'Lord of Hell' should have seemed pretty important for him to know about since he planned on conquering it. While Cao Cao might be the lying type, Sephiroth was certain Ophis had no reason to lie. She may be unimaginably powerful, but she was naïve and innocent to the ways of lower beings. There were only a couple of conclusions he could figure and both seemed stupid.

Either Vergil has been living under a rock for his whole life, or he made up his story of Mundas and fighting….or he wasn't from this realm as well…

"If you are certain of what you say, then you are like me," he stated, earning a "hmm?" from the son of Sparda. "The Underworld you know of is not this universe's Underworld. You, like me, have somehow breached the dimensional barrier between your world and this one."

"….."

"…"

"…..That would make sense," came the surprisingly calm reply. "So…you seem to know a lot more about this place then I do. I would like to know what this realm is like."

By now, both men seemed more lax. Sephiroth knew he probably couldn't answer everything Vergil asked, but he could just give the half-devil the quick version.

"From what I've discovered, there was a war between the devils, angels, and fallen angels. It ended a many thousand years ago with nobody becoming the victor. The four great Satans, or Maou, were killed in the war, along with Heaven's God. Though the war is over, all three factions still take chances to inflict damage upon their rivals."

From Sephiroth's explanation, Vergil adopted a thinking look as he walked about. "That is definitely not like my world. If that's so, than what faction are you leaning toward. If you just arrived to this world like I did, then you probably haven't chosen, but still.." he left the sentence unanswered, waiting for Sephiroth's reply.

"Right now, my mother and I are partnered with Ophis, the Dragon God of Infinity."

"Dragon God?" came the questioning response. Sephiroth merely nodded.

"Yes, it seems there is a race of dragons that is far more powerful than either devils or angels. Ophis, a dragon in human form, is one of the two Dragon Gods whose powers dwarf that of any other gods or devils, and even the other dragons."

"If that's so, then why would a being of such power need allies?"

Sephiroth sighed as he knew the answer would seem childish to the swordsman. "The other Dragon God is a massive dragon called Great Red. Ophis doesn't like him. Since their powers are nearly the same, she created an organization called the 'Khaos Brigade' to help her kill him."

"Huhuhuhu, and you chose to be a part of this Khaos Bridage?"

"No," came Sephiroth's instant reply. "I am independent of the rest of the Khaos Brigade, though there are four factions in it, I've only met one, which is made up of humans with Sacred Gears, which are extraordinary powers given to select humans by this realm's God. I've met with them and find myself distrusting of their leader. I wish to rule these worlds, while he wishes to destroy all the factions."

For the first time, Vergil's face twisted into a frown. "Such a foolish and arrogant being..if the Underworld and Heaven are anything remotely similar to where I'm from, then the world could not exist if all the devils and angels were killed. He would bring about humanity's ultimate demise."

"My thoughts exactly," Sephiroth mused. "Here's an offer. I find myself at odds with the other factions and am in need of able warriors to aid my goal. You are an excellent swordsman, one whose skills I have given a rare praise of. If you dislike what you have learned about this world, help me to change it."

"You expect me to just accept your offer to be your subordinate?" Sephiroth shook his head.

"No…not immediately. Return to your own world if you can, but if for some reason you stay, the position's open. In fact, I'll be keeping an eye out for anybody who shows promise."

Yes, Sephiroth has learned his mistake. If he couldn't conquer Gaia with just himself and Jenova, then what chance did he have in a realm where there are devils, angels, fallen angels, dragons, and humans with super-powers? No chance at all...by himself that is. Right now, it was just him and his mother like before, but with possibly Ophis if he can prove Cao Cao has any bad intentions towards the small Dragon God. Going at it alone would be suicidal, so he'll have to look beyond the three factions.

Sure, any turn-coats within them would be a welcome addition, but he'd need to find beings who're entirely independent of the three. There might be some within the ranks of the Khaos Brigade that would join him, then there are those like Vergil. If he is from an entirely different dimension like he and Jenova were, than what are the chances of finding more like him, or even going to those other realms to recruit more able bodies?

That takes him back to a certain Khaos Brigade faction member, a human named Siegfried. The young man possessed all of the strongest demonic swords, yet there is one he owns that could bypass the barriers of dimensions. He didn't speculate on what kind of dimensions, mainly cuz he was never able to break that kind of barrier. He said the barrier was too powerful when he tried it a few months ago, as if God himself created it to keep these planes of existence separate.

But, there's Sephiroth and Jenova's case after he used his Super Nova technique. There was a massive tear in the very fabric of time and space, though it was caused by enough force and pressure. Then there is Vergil's case, where the man seemingly ended up in this world by accident. Sephiroth was positive that the half-demon had somehow created a technique as strong as Sephiroth's Super Nova, so that would mean that either he has some way of slipping through the barrier or the barrier was considerably weakened and he accidentally cut through it.

The two options are surely something to be discussed with Mother, and if need be, Siegfried. Unfortunately, there in presented another problem. Siegfried was most likely loyal to Cao Cao, and such a request to travel to other dimensions would surely cause the boy to tell of it to the others. If that happened, than Sephiroth and Mother would have to destroy them if they attempted any hostile actions, and doing that would not guarantee them Ophis' help and powers when it came time to deal with the three factions. In fact, given how she's kinda lazy and had to gather those humans, it'd probably guarantee the mother and son duo her wrath.

However, if Vergil was able to come to this dimension, than what were the chances that he could go to others as well? If Vergil joined him and Mother, would they even need Siegfried's demonic sword? There were just so many factors to take in. The voice of Vergil broke Sephiroth from his thoughts.

"Very well, if we are to meet each other again, I'll join your group; atleast until I can find a way back to my world," the swordsman said. "Besides, I'd like to finish our fight when the time is right." He took out Yamato and stabbed it into the ground, causing a red seal of various intricate, circular patterns to appear underneath him.

"Farewell, One-Winged Angel."

"Til next time," Sephiroth said as the other man disappeared.

Silence once again greeted Sephiroth's senses, though it lasted for just minutes before he could hear sirens approaching his general area. Unlikely they were after him, but because of the collateral damage his and Vergil's battle caused to the surrounding building complexes. With one last look at where the half-devil disappeared at, he began his trip back to the warehouse, opting to walk instead of jump so he could enjoy the moonlit night.

* * *

When he returned to the disguised base for the Hero Faction, his Mother met him within feet of having entered the building. She instantly recognize the way Sephiroth was moving that he'd been in some sort of confrontation. She could even see the dirt stains on his coat, despite them being almost the same color.

"**You fought someone. They must've been strong too**." She said it more as a statement than a question and the thought of playing it off never crossed his mind, such was the bond between them.

"Yes, Mother. I fought another one like us," he said cryptically. "He was not from this realm, like we aren't. He was a half-devil swordsman named Vergil. Very strong and skilled, though we both weren't at our best."

He rolled his shoulders and the bones and muscles popped with the effort. "I still feel like I slept for a hundred years. The fight was an excellent way to stretch my limbs."

Jenova seemed reluctant to accept it as some form of exercise, but she eventually relented. "**Did you kill him than?**" she asked, Sephiroth knowing what she was thinking. It wasn't a bad idea, but unnecessary.

"No. He called it my win and I let him leave. If he isn't able to get back to his own world, than it's likely he'll be a new ally," he responded as they arrived at the rooms. Before he went to bed though, he was going to get himself a shower.

**"So nothing has changed?**" she asked, hoping to stall so she would not have to sleep in the same room as those humans for another eight hours. Though Jeanne hasn't done anything bad today, Jenova was still iffy about the way she threw herself at Sephiroth. Such a lowly being should know its place.

Sephiroth yawned, though he was able to substitute taking a deep breath for the usually wide-mouthed gesture. "No, Mother, nothing's changed. We will continue as usual, but I did have an extra thought. I'll tell you about it in the morning."

He left her to herself as he went towards his bed and procured a pair of underwear that he 'borrowed' from Heracles since the boy was still wrapped in bandages and sleeping in the make-shift ward. The human was able to move around a bit, surprising Sephiroth with his speed of recovery since he'd used a spell that would've turned a normal being's skin into charcoal, though he had to guess it was the blood of his ancestry or his sacred gear's passive abilities.

Shedding his trench coat, slacks, and boots, Sephiroth stalked towards the men's shower room and did his thing. He ended up using half of an entire bottle of shampoo and conditioner to wash the whole of his mane of silver hair. After drying himself and his hair off with a combination of a level one aero and fire spell. His control over the elemental spells being masterful, he'd created a natural, hot-air blow dryer over his entire body. Donning the underwear, Sephiroth made his way over to his chosen bed and slept away the minor aches in his body.

The next few days came and went in a blur of activity. Having seen most of the city, Sephiroth and Jenova managed to get Ophis to let them roam the Underworld, though Jenova ended up learning that bit as well after she figured out how Ophis made their magic circle. The Underworld wasn't at all what the name and legends from their own world have made it out to be.

Besides the different colored sky and the fact that everyone was either affiliated with or was a devil, it still seemed pretty normal...however normal can be when the two of them found out that Sephiroth was a wanted person. Though there wasn't yet a picture of him, the list of descriptions would have pictured him verbatim if he'd visited in his usual outfit and had his sword exposed.

Besides that little bump, nothing else went wrong. Sephiroth discovered that he wouldn't have to fight every single devil that existed, as like the humans, they had a standing military power that fought the wars while there were still plenty of cities filled with civilians who weren't combat oriented. The Fallen Angels were most likely the opposite since they were kicked out of Heaven and have had to survive the onslaughts of two larger powers in the Great War.

Like I stated, the Underworld's culture was very similar to the human worlds. There were stores, hotels, bars, restaurants, and there was even an arcade that they passed by, taking little notice of a man with distinguishable red hair owning the competition on a Dance-Dance Revolution game. One recurring theme they noticed was some advertisement with a girl in a magician's outfit posing for some kind of popular show.

Jenova was rather incognito during her visit. There were devils of all shapes and sizes, so she didn't have to hide her appearance at all. In fact, her body caught more than a few devils' lingering gazes, something she asked her son about and he answered "It's a common reaction when you refuse to wear clothes, Mother."

By how close together they were, many devils assumed they were either apart of the same peerage or were more closely involved, neither of these thoughts concerned the two. However, the most interesting thing happened with another couple and neither groups were aware.

Near the end of the day, Sephiroth and Jenova decided to stop by a restaurant as their stomachs were rumbling in protest from the lack of attention. Being hungry was still a new concept to Jenova, so her son figured since no one here saw them as anything unusual, they could solve her dilemma without having to go through the trouble of subtlety.

The restaurant was called '_Hell's Pass_'. It was a decent looking establishment which was big enough to serve about forty customers at once. To the right through the double-doors was a bar with a flatscreen up on the wall behind it, showing its viewers something involving two groups of devils fighting each other.

Across from the bar was a row of booths that could fit four people each. To the left were two doors, one leading to the bathrooms while the other probably to the kitchen area. At the moment, all but one of the booths were occupied, deciding for the two where they would sit. As they took their seats, another couple made their way to the same table. Sephiroth would be in for a surprise.

A tall, young man with blood-red hair and casual clothes, accompanied by who had to be his wife, a bombshell of a woman with an hourglass figure, grey eyes and silver hair like his own, took the seats across from their table. While the man seemed laid-back and relaxed, the wife's posture told Sephiroth that she'd probably been in the military as she carried herself with poise and dignity.

Once settled, the two newcomers eyed the mother/son duo with some interest, though the red-haired man was quick to break the silence before it could even start.

"Good evening there. I hope you don't mind if we share a table. We've been enjoying the day to its fullest and this place serves the best barbecue."

Sephiroth's eyes almost narrowed at the two newcomers. His 'Scan' ability was at work and right now, it was telling him that these two together could probably beat the shit out of him in a fight if he were to not take them seriously. The man's power level was at 158 while the white-haired woman's was at 129. Sephiroth own power level was at 133 and Jenova's was at 98. He knew there had to be something special about these two since most of these devils were only at a power level averaging 40.

The man noticed Sephiroth's calculating stare and his lighter side immediately took over. "You look like you're thinking pretty hard there, sir." The silver-haired swordsman silently cursed himself for being so blatant.

"Apologies. You just looked familiar," he lied, but the man seemed to have bought it.

"Well, allow me to introduce ourselves," the red-haired devil began, Sephiroth noticing the muscles in his wife's face tensing a bit and her eyes gaining a dangerous gleam to them. "I'm Sirzechs Lucifer, the 'Crimson-Haired Satan' and current Lucifer of the Underworld, and this is my beautiful, elegant wife, prized Queen, and my super-sexy maid, Grayfiaaaaa-!" Sephiroth and Jenova mentally grimaced as the wife's hand was now painfully twisting the man's ear like a mother would a child, all the while, she kept a straight face.

"Forgive my husband for his immaturity. Though he may hold the title of Lucifer, he more often acts his shoe size instead of his age," her curt voice explained in a fashion that seemed well rehearsed. It's like she's memorized that explanation for these moments.

Than, what the man had said finally came crashing into the other-worlders like a rock slide.

'THIS MAN IS THE STRONGEST **DEVIL IN THE UNDERWORLD!?**' both Jenova and Sephiroth were thinking.

'I would think this was a bad joke, but he has the power level to back up his claim,' Sephiroth thought with a sigh. He noticed Jenova seemed to have gotten a dangerous gleam in her eyes, like that of the woman, Grayfia.

'Mother, try not to do anything rash. We're in their territory and would be outnumbered and outmatched in no time,' he told her through their mental link that appeared ever since his time after he awakened from the Lifestream.

A middle-height waitress of about 5'4, walked up to them with a soft smile.

"Good evening and welcome to 'Hell's Pass.' How may I service you today?" she spoke in a timid voice. Judging from her stiff movements, nervous voice pattern, and the way she was gripping the menus in her hands tightly, Sephiroth could easily say that this girl was very new to her job. Either that, or either he or his mother was giving off some kind of aura.

"We are in need of something to fill our empty stomachs," Sephiroth responded kindly. "This is our first time here, so is there anything you would suggest?"

"Well, we have a special going on today: Potato soup with fresh garlic breadsticks."

"That sounds good," he said, the memory of the last time he had something anything similar to potato soup being when he visited Angeal's home to pick him up for a mission. Since all of their food came from farming the rough land, potatoes were one of the only crops they could produce.

Sensing her son's positive feelings towards the sound of the food, she asked for the special as well. "**I would have it as well."**

Her silky voice flowed smoothly out from between her lips, causing the unfamiliar devils to give her a surprised look, likely expecting her to sound brash or ineloquent due to her...boldness *cough*nudity*cough*. While it wasn't unheard of for many devils to forgo clothing, their excuse being because of their physical size or anatomy, however Jenova was very humanoid, articulate tail non-withstanding, and with her pink, pupil-less eyes and long flowing lavender-whitish hair, she was certainly one who has turned many heads. The proof was sitting right across from them as the crimson-haired Satan was sending very discreet glances every other minute or so.

"And what would you two like to have," the waitress asked the Satan and 'Ultimate Queen', though she had no idea who they really were.

The two high-class devils perused through the menus, taking note of several things.

"I would have the grilled chicken salad with the French dressing, as well as the pasta appetizer," Grayfia said with as much eloquence as Jenova. The young woman jotted the order down and turned to the last person.

"Would you be having the same as her, sir?" she asked in a young, cute manner. Apparently, Sirzechs thought it was cute as well, and being him, he couldn't help himself.

"Of course, young lady, I would have three grilled cheese sandwiches with a glass of milk," he proclaimed with much enthusiasm, causing Sephiroth to really question the validity of both the man's introduction as well as the functionality of his own Scan materia. At the same time, Grayfia could feel a small vein beginning to throb on her forehead at her husband's childishness.

The young waitress giggled and wrote the order down. "Alrighty, I'll pass the orders along. Ma'am, your appetizers should be ready in a few minutes." She walked off, leaving the four super-powered beings alone at the table.

The awkward silence was broken by none other than Jenova, who was looking at Sirzechs inquisitively. **"You act very excited about this grilled cheese sandwich. Is it that good?**"

Sirzechs' face seemed to light up at the question while Grayfia composed herself, though mentally she wanted to bang her head on the table cuz she knew what was going to happen. No matter how much she chastises her husband/king, he never seems to want to grow up, his current behavior and food selection being proofs of that.

"Is it that good?!" the Satan began, his face showing mock-astonishment. "It's only one of the greatest food recipes ever created! The way the milk-made cheese is melted between two slices of bread on a hot skillet while the bread is buttered and heated at the same time...It was Rias and mine's favorite snack when we were little."

"Rias?" Sephiroth questioned, though just from curiosity. However, it seemed he'd get the full story if how Sirzechs' expression lit up at the opportunity to boast about his baby sis. Grayfia was now contemplating flat-out choking Sirzechs before he lost all manner of discipline and manners.

"Oh, Rias is my wonderful, cute, little sister! Here's a picture of her, but it's about a year old. However, if you saw her now, you'd be able to point her out." In a flash, the man brought out a wallet and flipped it open. From it, dozens of pictures that were held in a folded stack of card protectors unfurled, showing Sephiroth and Jenova the pictures of the Satan's family, all of whom had a distinct hair color.

"That's quite a family you got there. I can see the similarities."

"Why thank you, Mr..." Sirzechs paused when he realized that he didn't even know the two's names. "I'm sorry, I was so busy talking I never got your names," he realized with an embarrassed smile.

Normally, some fugitives or wanted persons of interest would be sweating, but to someone who's been trained in all forms of battle, it was the same story. Sephiroth was trained for leading armies, as well as destroying them. Playing spy was not something he'd intended to do. I mean, what are the odds that the one small, underrated restaurant he and his mother stop at is visited by two of the most powerful devils in the Underworld?

Given credit Sephiroth wasn't sweating, but he did stop himself from saying his actual name, since he just had to tell those devils he first met his and his mother's names. Now, he was trained to adapt in any given situation, so in the span of the two seconds that he was silent, a thousand different names ran through his mind, only one standing out the most. He knew that he'd have to say something immediately or risk their exposure where than things would get difficult. In his thinking, one name stuck out the most and the more he thought about it, the more he liked it.

"My name is Cloud Strife," he said with a calm serenity, though internally, he was laughing as he knew that somewhere in the Lifestream, his former rival was cursing his name for all it was worth.

"-and this is my partner, Aerith (**or Aeris**) Gainsborough."

He was mentally giving an evil chuckle as he took advantage of yet another former rival. He could see the deceased Cetra descendant stomping on her rolling over in her grave as he used her name to hide the Calamity that nearly killed off her kind.

"Interesting names, but I'm not one to judge," Sirzechs said, his attention than diverted to the freshly baked breadsticks the waitress brought. "Mmmmm" he reaches out for one, but Grayfia's hand strikes out like a viper and the result is the Satan whining pitifully as he tends to the mark on his hand. "So mean," he mumbles weakly.

The scene was very amusing, like a mother scolding her undisciplined child.

"You should have asked, dear," was the scary woman's reply. Nobody else said anything til the main food had actually arrived, this time Sephiroth breaking the silence.

"So, do you two come here often? Normally, people who are of such esteemed status put distance between them and the common folk."

The question caught the two by surprise, but than again, their faces are pretty famous. Sirzechs answered in a surprising manner. "To be honest, living in luxury is good and all, those just being a few of the perks with being a Satan, but before I gained that title, I was just like most people here. Even though I was the heir to the Gremory Family, I never thought of simple things like getting a burger or going to the movies below me. Agreed, many nobles think that their pure-blooded status gives them the right to segregate themselves from the people who serve them."

"That's one of the reasons why I'm so proud that I came from the Gremory family. Our house is famous for the way we treat our servants because we know that without them, we wouldn't have anything to be a 'Master' of, nor would we be able to live the way we do unless we put direct effort into it."

Grayfia's expression showed a soft smile at her husband's words, and Sephiroth knew from them that this man had the qualities of a fine leader, if not person as well. He was clearly leagues ahead of President Shinra and the likes of those ilk.

"That is a good trait to have. Becoming familiar with your subordinates is crucial in being an effective leader. One tends to care about someone more if they know they're cared for as well."

Sirzechs gave Sephiroth an appraising look, if not a bit surprised. "You speak it as if from experience. Are you in the military?"

Sephiroth shook his head in a 'no' manner. "Use to be. Unforeseeable circumstances forced me to have a career change," he replied cryptically.

"Oh, I'm sorry for that," the Satan apologized, assuming he might've encroached upon a sensitive issue. They were having a nice conversation and he'd hate to be the one to ruin the mood.

The fugitive ex-SOLDIER thought back to how he'd been working for Shinra, than to his last mission. He'd been sent to investigate the malfunctioning of a Mako reactor outside of Nibelheim. Upon discovering that monsters were being farmed there, he went into the basement laboratory of Professor Hojo underneath the Shinra Manor. Studying all of the notes and data logs throughout the entire night, he had discovered that he'd been created from his mother, Jenova, like some lab rat. The more he read, the more his mind became blinded with hate as the very company that he'd faithfully served his entire life had actually betrayed his very existence.

Sephiroth had proceeded to burn down Nibelheim, killing everyone of the town's people, than made his way back to the reactor to recover his mother. It was there where he'd fought Zack, and than a young Cloud, the latter who he had impaled with his Masamune. However, somehow the blonde haired brat summoned incredible strength and lifted him off the ground with his sword still through the boy's gut, where he proceeded to throw the prodigal child into the Lifestream itself.

After he'd spent many years, his body had since passed away, but his Will was too powerful to die, and so he traveled the Lifestream, learning the truth about the Cetra, or Ancients, and his Mother's origins.

As he remembered all of that, he shrugged his shoulders, his large trench coat hiding much of his frame, as well as the full detail of his appearance that would have probably raised the suspicion that he was the Sephiroth the devils were looking for.

"Life changing, but not all of it was unfortunate. It was how I came to meet my partner, 'Aerith'. We've been traveling together for the past many years."

There was a brief flash of relief in Sirzechs eyes, he was glad to have caught a lucky break. Despite his power, he still cared about the feelings of other good-hearted, nice, and sociable people like the two sitting before him. **(Cracks up while writing this)**.

"That's pretty brave of you to stay focused on the positives instead of dwelling on the bad around you. It takes strength most people never acquire," Grayfia commented for the first time since getting her meal.

Thankfully, the rest of their meal passed without any tension. Sephiroth learned more about the strongest devil and current Satan than he ever would have while relying on Cao Cao's knowledge, and Jenova finally experienced potato soup, Grayfia even giving her one of her own breadsticks. The meal ended in a surprising manner as Sephiroth had lost the small bit of currency he'd brought with him, resulting in a awkward silence with the waitress, but Sirzechs paid for his and Jenova's meal, saying '_Don't worry about it. You can think of some way to pay me back._'

Sephiroth and Jenova quickly left the diner and returned to the human world via Jenova's new ability.

* * *

Sirzechs and Grayfia just entered their home via transportation circle when Sirzechs turned to his wife, his face set in a frown. "Grayfia-honey, did Cloud-san and Aerith-san seem familiar to you?"

His wife looked surprised, but she began pondering as well. "I know I've never met them before. Perhaps they just resemble someone who've met."

Her husband didn't look convinced. "I don't know. I definitely would've remembered someone with a tail like Aerith-san had." Of course, he was literally talking about the tail, as in the appendage that was attached the the bottom of Aerith's spine, and not the slang definition of 'tail.' Unfortunately, Grayfia misinterpreted that the wrong way when she began leaking out massive killing intent.

Oblivious as always, Sirzechs just notices and gives her a concerned look. "Is something wrong, dear? You remember something?"

Her face was set in stone and her grey eyes as cold as Death's own, possibly cold enough to freeze Hell over. "Yes, something is wrong, _dear," _she spoke the last part with a deep inflection. "I just remembered how my father was right when he warned me that you were like a dog when around women."

"Eh?" was all he could get out before all the servants in the manor heard just how girlish a man's screams can become when in enough pain.

* * *

Sephiroth and Jenova entered the human world, the time zones apparently different as the sun was quickly setting and the daylight was being removed by darkness. The moon was brightly illuminating the night, enough for the two otherworldly beings to easily move about. The quiet city reminded Sephiroth of the night three days ago when he was ambushed by Vergil. Would he have another encounter as well? Did the half-devil ever find his way back?

Instead of going straight to the warehouse, the son and his mother decided to walk through the quiet and uninhabited construction district. Thinking back to his conversation with that Fallen angel Raynare, he'd given her four days before he would make his return, her allies being okay with it or not, so he could get a possible update.

Now that he thought more about it, tonight was the night she'd planned to take that nun's sacred gear and become, what she'd called, a supreme Fallen angel. Apparently, having an ability that could heal a fallen angel of nearly any wound would grant her enough prestige and influence to ascend to a higher tier. He'd dropped the hint that he might stop by to witness the mysterious ritual, as well as see just how this 'Twilight Healing' worked.

* * *

Raynare sat on the top of the top of the abandoned church that sat on the top of the large hill overlooking the entirety of Sorami City. Most of her thoughts were on the ritual, her anxiety and anticipation affecting her enough to make her almost sleep deprived. She could get a few power naps no problem, but a good, peaceful night's sleep was impossible due to one thing.

Sephiroth.

Any time she closed her eyes, his bluish-green ones with slitted pupils would be staring right at her. The coldness his stare possessed still sent shivers down her spine. They held a hidden malice in them that felt like it could crush her bones to dust was it to ever be set free. They also exuded a sense of despair to whomever looked into them, like no matter what one did, they would perished before the power of their wielder. Closing her eyes to imagine being stared at like that again, Raynare agreed that she got turned on everytime she saw them.

Raynare was a sadist through and through; always has been. She got such joy from the pain she caused people. Her most recent exploit had been the murdering of that boy, Hyoudou Issei, while she'd pretended to be his girlfriend. The look of betrayal in that boy's eyes as she transformed from that meek and innocent girl into her true fallen form and ran her light spear through his gut sent excited shivers throughout her body. She reveled in it. She would definitely do it again and again if she could.

Than apparently she'd gotten her chance again when she'd went out to retrieve the nun, Asia Argento, after the girl had ran away after discovering how 'enthusiastic' Freed was about his job of killing devils and devil affiliates. She'd found the nun in the company of none other than Issei, who'd been resurrected as a devil. He'd been spouting some nonsense about how even though their sides were enemies, they'd still be friends for life. It was gut-wenchingly laughable.

Well, she'd taken back Asia, locked her back into her room and kept her there til the ritual is ready. She'd went ahead and recalled all exiled priests from the field, as well as making sure Freed stayed in the base as well. She had a feeling that devil boy would be making an appearance to try to save Asia since she'd fed the boy a carrot to come and try. Her three fallen angel companions were stationed just a little ways from the church, ready to ambush the devil group that was sure to come.

In all honesty, she'd would've began the ceremony already, but she told the group to stand by as they were expecting a visitor. She didn't tell them who since it wasn't their place to know. However, she knew who was coming and she was both frightened and excited. Sephiroth had said he would likely come by to get an update on any of the Grigori's activities as well as observe her self-proclaimed ascension in the ranks of the Fallen Angels.

As explained, she was a sadist to the core, but the way Sephiroth's eyes had made her quiver throughout his interrogation of her, she was well within her right to disappear.

But..over the past several days, she's had time to dwell on the subjects she'd confessed to him and his 'mother', and though his tone showed absolute control and held little remorse in his threats, she begin to understand the fear she'd felt. It was the first time she'd felt the sensation that she could die in centuries. Knowing that he had her life in the palm of his hand and he could have simply crushed her brought on familiar feelings, though for different reasons. It was the same feelings she felt whenever she had killed Issei.

It was the feeling of sheer pleasure. This morning, she'd woken up from one of her short naps to find her panties moist as all she could remember from her dream was the dominated feeling she felt in Sephiroth's presence that night on the rooftops. She now squirmed remembering how he'd overpowered her with one hand. And hell, even his name, meaning 'Manifestation of God', was sexy and gave her a tongue its equivalent of an orgasm everytime she said it.

Azazel and Shemhazai had never had this kind of effect on her. Could that be just because they've never been forceful with her, or was it because her body's instincts, or maybe a small part of her mind, knew for a fact that Sephiroth was more powerful than them? Maybe because she knew it was just Sephiroth and that Jenova being, so her actions for him would be more obvious and be directly appreciated. Perhaps...

An explosion of noise ruined her from her thoughts. She glanced down and saw the boy, Hyoudou, and two other devils rush through the now destroyed doors of the church. One of them was a short, petite loli with white hair and the uniform of the Kuoh Academy uniform. Also dressed in the male version of the uniform was a blonde-haired boy with decent looks. 'So, he did bring back up. I guess I'll keep them busy. I'll finish them off so there will be no more interruptions for when Sephiroth-sama gets here.'

She was briefly silent as how unexpected and...natural, that suffix came out of her thoughts. In the distance, she could feel the auras of her friends growing, as well the the auras of two more devils. 'Don't let those devils get the best of you guys.' The sound of gunshots and wood shattering erupted from the main hall of the church, so she wasted no more time.

* * *

Issei, Kiba, and Koneko were in a three-on-one battle with the exiled exorcist, Freed Sellzen. The latter being a young man, probably 18, give or take a few years, with short white hair and red eyes that such pure lunacy. If one were to look into his eyes, they could easily see that his sanity has long since been thrown away like a piece of litter. He was dressed like a regular exorcist, wearing white clerical clothing. However, he always appeared to be a battle maniac, given his large, twisted grin even as he suffered a punch to the body from Koneko.

"Strong devils. Yes, you are all strong devils. Too bad you won't live after tonight. Cuz I'm going to kill you." He pulls out another light sword, his first one having been absorbed by the strange demonic sword that Yuuto Kiba created. "Yes, I'm going to cut you all up to tiny pieces, than I'm going to kiss you all good-bye!" He stuck his tongue out like a dog, mocking the devils despite his disadvantage.

"Can't believe he has the gall to mock us when we're beating him back," Yuuto commented with disgust. "Let's end this, priest."

Kiba, the Knight of Rias Gremory's peerage, used his super-speed to zip forward to cut Freed in half, yet the deranged priest was able to bring his sword up in time to block the blow. Following his block, Freed brought up his light gun and fired at point blank range, but Kiba had seen it coming and dodge accordingly, the bullets hitting air instead of flesh.

Freed had kept his sights on Kiba's body, but the devil used this to his advantage. "Pay attention to your surroundings, priest scum!" The pew behind Kiba was suddenly lifted up and thrown at them. Kiba ducked underneath as the twelve foot, solid oak pew passing inches above the boy's back. Freed scoffed as he recognized the same maneuver as before. He'd be prepared this time.

Slashing the wooden bench in half, his gun was already up to blast a new hole into the Issei devil boy who'd run to try to hit him. Indeed, Issei was charging like a bull at the priest, yet when he saw the muzzle of a gun pointing at his face, he smirked instead of trying to evade.

"You should have listened to Kiba-kun, you bastard!" Freed's eyes widen as he just detected the presence of the knight behind him. Cursing to himself, he swung his sword around to cut the devil scum down, but wasn't fast enough as the blade that entered through his body testified to that. Cursing profusely, Freed brought up his gun to shoot the now immobile knight, but he'd forgotten about a certain rook powerhouse, whose fist slammed into his jaw and knocking him into the stone statue of Jesus.

The statue shattered from the force of the impact. Freed was disoriented for a moment, but that was all it took for Kiba to speed up and slash a large gash into the man's chest. Blood flew like a fountain from the exorcist's chest. Kiba's body disappeared with his speed as several shots were fired from the pistol still in Freed's hand, giving the injured man some space to breath.

His face had several veins protruding along his forehead, showing the strain he was going through with still trying to fight. His breathing became ragged and eyes delirious with rage.

"What the hell are all of you priests waiting for!?" he screamed. Seconds later, dozens of priests in black robes with light swords began storming out of the passage from underneath the alter, their battle cries fillings the halls of the church.

"Shit! He had reinforcements just waiting for us," Issei growled, punching one priest that tried to decapitate him, knocking him out cold. However, three more took its place with more still pouring out of the passageway.

"Tsk..they probably have hundreds in there. Koneko, the ones who are still coming through that passageway ave just one way out," Yuuto explained. "Try to collapse it to cut our work for us."

The cute 'mascot' of the school nodded and barreled her way through the priests foolish enough to get in her way til she was behind the pathway but over the actual tunnel. She raised both of her fists together above her head before muttering a single word.

"Smash..." then she brought the hammer down. Her fists cratered the ground in a ten foot radius around her, shooting debris in a 360 degree pattern. The fifty somethin' priests who were still running through the passageway stopped and looked up as the ceiling of the tunnel began shaking.

Koneko raised her fists up again and with one final smash, crushed the ground beneath her. The force buckled the support beams in the tunnel. The men inside began screaming and running for whichever exit was closest. The ground above them near the entrance to the church's hall caved in first, burying about twelve within seconds, their screams fueling the feet of those who still had hope to get out.

Like a chain reaction, when one end of the tunnel gave way, the rest quickly followed, the beams snapping like twigs between a giant's fingers, spilling the earth on top of the frantic and frightened exiled priests. Back in the hall of the church, the church was shaking at its foundations as the tunnel collapsed, spewing dust and dirt from the mouth of the passageway like a dragon breathing fire.

The devils cheered at their small victory while the priests were shaken by the monstrous strength the tiny devil girl possessed. Freed swore silently, promising to kill these devils as he recuperated from his grievous injuries suffered from the knight and rook.

"That ought even the odds into our favor now," Kiba smirked, his vigor for battle renewed as he went about slicing up the priests who'd dropped their guards.

Issei caught the wrist that held a sword aimed for his head and used the priest' momentum to throw the man off-balanced, than capitalizing with an uppercut that sent the man flying off his feet. Panting to catch his breath, he frowned as there still hadn't been any sign of Yuum- no...Raynare, nor Asia. "Dammit...where are they keeping Asia!?"

"Oh, but you haven't even said hi to me yet, Issei-kun."

Issei's spine shivered as that familiar tone reached his ears, like someone just poured ice down the back of his shirt. It was the voice of the first girl he had truly opened himself up to, the first girl he ever loved, his first girlfriend, and the one girl to stab him in the heart...quite literally. He slowly turned around, as if in some horror movie, and glanced upon the admittedly beautiful body of the Fallen Angel Raynare hovering above them all. She was looking over the battlefield with some interest.

"I'm quite impressed with you devils. You've managed to desecrate this church more in the last ten minutes than we all have in the past two years."

The devils gave her little attention, except Issei who openly glared at Raynare. "Where's Asia-chan, Raynare?!"

The fallen angel returned his scornful glare with one of her own. "I don't want some filthy devil soiling my name with their tongue." She formed a ring of light spears in front of her, all aiming at the fairly young devil. "Do me the favor of dying for me...again," she said, pausing to add that last part. With a flick of her hand, the light spears shot forwards with great speed.

Issei jumped backwards, rolled to the sides, and threw nearby priests in between him and Raynare to avoid the deadly anti-devil weapons. Some of the people he dodged behind were unlucky enough to have a four foot spear pierce their bodies.

The hail of spears prematurely ended when Raynare had to dodge the pew thrown by Koneko. The long, wooden bench spun end around end, shattering against the stone walls of the church.

"You little bitch!" she yelled, turning to throw a few light spears at the more obvious threat. "I'll kill you first so your devil kind can weep." She flew to avoid the large and heavy objects-turned projectiles, throwing another spear of light here and there when she felt she had an opening. Neither really noticed that all of the objects had been thrown in the same direction where they began to pile up once they crashed into the wall.

Kiba worked his skills and speed to cover for Koneko as there were still about twenty monks and priests left. One of them got through but Koneko punched him in the gut, breaking his spine from the force of it. Grabbing the paralyzed man by the foot, she began spinning in circles on her heels, clearing away anybody that tried to get too close. The sounds of bones cracking and men and women crying in pain filled the room. The tiny girl had built up enough speed that she looked like a spinning top of doom. Breaking from her heel-to-heel stance, she completed one more spin before launching the dead priests at the hovering Raynare.

The speed of the throw was much greater than the other objects, forcing her to fly low to avoid the human hitting her head. She looked at the devil with a disappointed expression. "After all that, you missed?"

"I didn't miss," Koneko spoke softly, her eyes looking up. Raynare frown and followed her gaze, than gasped as Issei jumped from the pile of debris right on top of her, his normally red gauntlet now taking on a more draconian appearance as it encased his left arm all the way up to his elbow. She couldn't move in time as he plowed his fist into her face, pancaking her into the ground, resulting in a shockwave that knocked away the nearby priests and rubble.

Raynare was aching all over her body but she managed to get up to a knee. Issei must've used all of his energy because he was resting his hands on his knees, panting like he'd run a marathon. Growling in rage that some lowly devil managed to literally get the drop on her, she readied another spear to plunge into his chest, but she barely recognized the blur of a small, white-haired girl ramming its shoulder in her chest. Next thing she knew was that she was flying into the wall.

She was unconscious before she even fell to the ground.

* * *

Inside the church, the rest of the priests decided to haul tail while they could, but Kiba didn't allow them to get far, his anger towards priests and their ilk having not been squelched by the whole battle. While the group was recuperating, the sound of a pair of footsteps entering the church made them spring into defensive stances in case it was an enemy counterattack, but low and behold, it was merely their Buchou and her Queen, both looked like they'd been in a little scuffle themselves.

Rias' blue eyes gazed over the destruction of the church, a smile turning her lips upward in approval. "Well, you all certainly made a mess of things."

Issei was shocked to see the Pres here. No doubt, she was probably going to skin him alive for disobeying her. "Buchou! I-"

"Save it, Issei-kun," she ordered with a gentle voice. "I knew you would come to try to save Asia even though I told you not to. She is your friend, is she not?"

He nodded dumbly at the change of heart his president had. She took another glance around the area as if something was missing. "Well, where is your friend, Issei-kun?"

As if struck by lightning, his sense came back to him. He hit himself upside the head a couple of times, cursing his forgetfulness. "I'm not sure! She has to be somewhere in here!"

The groaning of Raynare brought Rias' attention onto the Fallen Angel, now beaten and battered. She walked confidently over to the angel who'd caused her precious pawn so much trouble.

"My, you really did a number on her. I had no doubt you all could do it," she praised lovingly. "Akeno, please wake up Fallen Angel-san."

Akeno gained a mischievous glint in her eyes, one that the peerage of devils recognized far too well. With a twirl of her hand, a body of floating water appeared over Raynare's head before falling and thoroughly soaking the woman.

Raynare awoke rather quickly, coughing and sputtering before she turned her eyes to the devils who stood victoriously over her. A frown marred her beautiful face.

Rias was the first to break the silence. "Fallen Angel Raynare, I'm Rias Gremory, heir to the Gremory Clan. It's a pleasure to meet you, despite the short time it will be. You've been beaten soundly."

The Fallen Angel grimaced and swore infinitely in her head. This was NOT how the night was suppose to go. She opened her mouth to warn them of her three companions, but than she remembered that she'd been on the roof when she felt all of their energy signatures light up against the two devil energies. She didn't recognize the two women before, so she assumed the worst that her comrades had been defeated.

She entertained the thought of using her looks as Yuuma Amano to try to convince Issei, but that would be pointless. Plus, what if Sephiroth-sama saw her begging like a dog with such a pitiful attempt? He didn't seem like the man to associate himself with cowards.

While she was stewing over her loss, Rias had noticed the change in Issei's sacred gear. She immediately recognized it, and her questions about what had made Issei worth all of her pawn pieces were finally answered.

"Raynare-san, would you like to know why you were beaten by someone like Issei?" She misses the cough by Koneko and the nervous laugh of Issei. "Her sacred gear is no mere Twice Critical like you probably thought? It's actually the legendary Boosted Gear, the Red Dragon Emperor Gauntlet, one of the Lost Longinus that can slay God."

Upon this declaration, there were several gasps, none more disbelieving than Issei and Raynare's. "Eh?!" they both shouted.

"But-but what is someone like _him _doing wielding a sacred gear like that?!" she asked in astonishment.

"Does it matter?" Buchou asked, her tone now dangerous. "You harmed and tried to kill on multiple occasions my precious pawn. Your life is mine now. Any last words?"

A door opening drew their attention to a startled Asia, who looked upon the devastation of the aftermath with a sense of fear and awe. She'd heard all of the noise and sounds of fighting, but she'd been too afraid to investigate.

That fear of hers turned to confusion and worry when she saw Issei bleeding from several wounds he'd sustained, as well as several other people she couldn't recognize standing around a bloody Raynare. Had they come to save her? Tears started spilling from her eyes, she ran towards her only friend.

"Issei-kun!"

"Asia-chan!" Issei ran to meet her, them two the only ones not able to hear Raynare's chuckling.

"Yeah, I have a few," drawing the rest of the devils' attention. "My life doesn't belong to you. It belongs to Sephiroth-sama."

At her words, Rias and Akeno's eyes shot open in alarm. Yuuto and Koneko didn't understand the danger that name had just put them in, but from the way Rias' posture had stiffen, she must've knew something about it.

The sound of a coat fluttering caused them to look up towards the roof. They only managed to see a shadowy blur dropping down.

"Issei!" Rias cried out, causing said boy to stop and look back at her in confusion. Time seemed to slow down as a massively long sword was unsheathed and plunged straight through flesh.

Issei's eyes widened at the familiar sound and slowly looked back at Asia, meeting her shocked eyes with his own. Slowly and shakily, Asia looked down at a beautifully crafted sword sticking out of her chest. She looked back up at Issei, tears spewing from her eyes, staining her face.

"Issei..." she muttered before slumping forward on the blade in a lifeless manner.

"a-a-ASIAAAAAAA!" Issei cried as he ran towards her.

The swordsman pulled his blade from her blade and spun, slashing him across his chest. With another spin following that, the blade flew upwards, severing the arm Boosted Gear rested upon behind the elbow. With a forward kick, the swordsman's boot sent Issei's body flying backwards into Kiba, sending both boys barreling through the few pews that remained.

With the figure no longer moving at a dizzying speed, his physical features came into focus, drawing gasps from Rias and Akeno as they began matching his characteristics with a known criminal's at a rate faster than they liked. Raynare was laughing at how the tables had just turned on the devils in seconds. The three remaining devils and Raynare stared at the blade the swordsman held off to the side, it's eight-foot length gleaming in the moonlight filtered through the stained glass windows, the dripping blood adding a sense of despair and horror to the scene.

The silence was broken by Rias, who was trembling with both rage and fear. "Sephiroth..." His name left her lips, inflaming both of her feelings. She'd been told of how much power he seemed to possess, and the news was only confirmed when she'd received word that Sephiroth's energy was detected in the city, alongside another very powerful energy signature.

Koneko had been stunned by this new foe and his actions. She wanted to charge him and beat his face into the ground, but his narrowed eyes locked onto hers, freezing her body in motion as she noticed his nekomata-like eyes. His eyes were like that, but his scent was all wrong. She didn't know what to make of him. Her more primal instincts were telling her differently. '**RUN AWAY! DO NOT ANGER HIM! HE IS AN ALPHA!' **Needless to say, she'd been speechless by the dire urgency that was prevalent in her instinct's voice.

Akeno's normally mischievous smile has been replaced with a sadistic snarl never before seen on her face. She's hated very few people, because normally most of the people who she did begin to hate were killed in a manner that she gained immense joy from. There were very few people that she hated whom she couldn't lay her hands on. For her mind's sake, she prayed to any deity that this man wasn't as powerful as to where she couldn't gain any enjoyment from fighting.

"You have someone who belongs to me," Sephiroth stated coldly, his slitted eyes narrowing in at the devils. "I will be taking her back. Try to stop me, and you will know her fate," he warned, referring to the dead nun at his feet.

Rias' own eyes narrowed at the audacity of this criminal. Not only had he harmed her beloved cousin, but her own peerage as well in front of her very eyes. She knew she had to think tactically, and getting angry would release hormones that would only make her dumber. While she was feeling rage, Raynare was affected in the complete opposite way.

Here was the man whom haunted her in her sleep, standing before her enemies like a 'Death God', showing no signs of remorse for the murder of a rather innocent nun and talking down to an entire peerage of devils like they were none of his concern. And, he was here to claim what belonged to him. _Her_.

'Yes, Sephiroth-sama! Kill these pathetic devils and claim what belongs to you! Save your loyal servant!' Raynare thought with glee.

The current scene combined with some thoughts that sent her mind into the gutter began making her lower region very hot and her chest tighten as if he were clutching her very soul right now. One of those images was of the two of them fornicating in the devils' blood while said devils were impaled on spikes around them. The thought of his hands roaming her body, his cock moving inside of her, and his lips leaving hot kisses down her neck had her soaked before she could even come back to reality.

She was angry that she came out of it, but wasn't disappointed for long as the devil girl Akeno launched several fireballs at Sephiroth who in turned merely cut right through them. Rias was quickly to follow with a barrage of energy balls containing her 'Power of Destruction.' Sephiroth noted that these attacks posed an actual threat to his being, so he wisely averted them while cutting ones here and there. Rias than blasted the ground around him, kicking up debris and dust to create a smokescreen.

'She's taken away my sight, so the only reason would be to either buy time to strategize, position themselves for some strategy, or...' he stepped to the side as a fist from the tiny white-haired girl whizzed by. 'Just as expected.' Koneko was quick to initiate a spinning back kick. Sephiroth caught the kick by the ankle with his right hand, though he was fairly impressed with the power behind the girl's attack. It certainly would've left a light bruise or a welt. The only one who seemed more surprised was Koneko, who now was started to regret not listening to her now screaming instincts.

The smoke around the pair was blown away by Sephiroth swinging the girl by her ankle in circular motions. He lunged forward and smashed one end of a pew with the small nekomata, the force sending the opposite end flipping towards them, which he than proceeded to destroy in mid-way with a spinning swing of Koneko.

With another over-head slam into the ground, he jerked her by the leg, tossing the rook back to her master's feet, said master now letting use a built up ball of destruction.

''Die you bastard."

Hands holding the beach ball-sized ball above her head, she throws it at Sephiroth, who grips his Masamune with both hands and swings at an angle upwards. The two forces clashed together like miniature trains, though instead of an instead explosion, they tried to power through the other.

Rias was shocked that this Sephiroth was powerful enough to halt her most powerful attack, even though he hasn't yet stopped it. Still, it would take an ultimate-class opponent to stop her full power of destruction in its tracks.

Sephiroth was very impressed with the energy of this blast, rating it a 8 out of 10 on his scale of personal experience in battle. This girl definitely had the potential to be a very powerful entity, whether she be friend or foe.

"Akeno, hit him while he's immobile, but don't get in the way of my spell," Buchou ordered. She had the king in the corner, so it's time to send the queen to seal his fate.

The white kimono-clad Queen flew up above the battle between Sephiroth and her Buchou's power. She took a moment to marvel at his strength and the way his beautiful silver man of hair fluttered out behind him. If not for his transgressions, he would've been a..._delectable_ meal. 'Good bye, Sephiroth-teme.'

She charged her magic up, noting that her actions weren't escaping his gaze and that made it all the more sweeter. With a wave of her hand, she launched a bolt of black lightning. The blasted impacted the man, causing a nice dark dome of static energy to emit around his spot.

"Fufufufu, I hope that doesn't do him in. I'm not even sweating yet," the certified sadist exclaimed, drawing a sweat-drop from Rias, who just shook her head and tried to add more power to her attack.

What surprised them both was a white glow from within the blast and soon a very similar black lightning bolt was coming right towards Akeno. Gasping, she flew to the side to avoid it but to her wonder, the bolt followed her movement. Thinking she had done well avoiding it, she was now too close to dodge.

"Well fuck me," she muttered as her own attack hit her full-on. Her cries ranged out through the church and were poisonous to one crimson-haired girl's ears, though if said girl was to be honest, she couldn't tell if Akeno was crying in pain or in ecstasy, such was her level of masochism.

The blast ended and Akeno's body fell to the ground, smoke pouring from her body. She was unconscious, but there was a slight grin on her face that went unnoticed by Rias. Her attention was now on Sephiroth who was still battling with her 'Power of Destruction.' Suddenly the air around them all became very heavy, even to Rias and Raynare. Both eyes widened as the mysterious weight was actually the aura emanating from the blast, from Sephiroth.

The area around the confrontation was glowing a green with a blue outline, making a turquoise mixture. Over with Sephiroth, he decided to just destroy this devil girl's hopes by deflecting her attack instead of jumping to the side. Putting more strength into his body, he pushed his sword up and through the large ball of energy, sending it in two halves behind him. He duly noted that there were now two large holes going through the church leading outside. At the same time, he crouched and than disappeared in a burst of a few feather.

-zip-

Rias lost sight of him, unknowing whether it was from his speed or some form of magic. Before she could even register his presence, she was lifted by the back of her neck and slammed onto her face. She cringed at the physical abuse, it being something that she as both a king and high-ranking devil was not used to. She felt the heavy boot on her back, though she managed to turn her head so she could look Sephiroth in the eye.

She felt the cold breath of fear wash against her heart as the point of his long nodachi was inches from her neck. She knew he was probably stronger than her, yet she had to attack him. He'd attacked her precious servants, and they were a Gremory's pride! She couldn't have just stood back and let him off, even if she was made aware of some of his strength by Grayfia and her brother.

Raynare looked on with a huge, cruel smile from where she laid. Her body was still sore beyond comprehension, several bones most likely broken, but she wouldn't let the pain keep her from enjoying her master dominating these lowly devils. Now they were all beaten sorely and the Gremory bitch's neck was at the mercy of her new liege. Her master would kill them, than take her away where she would recover than figure out a _proper_ way to show her loyalty and gratitude for saving her life.

"Sephiroth-sama..." she called out, gaining his attention. "I'm sorry you have to see me like this, beaten and broken from their attack." She grimaced as she knew he would most likely punish her for being weak, but hey, that'd be better than being disintegrated by that bitch's 'Power of Destruction.' "I was beaten and about to be destroyed by that Gremory slut."

Sephiroth turned his eyes down onto Gremory who refused to shudder at his hard glare. "So..you are his sister," he muttered, but it was enough for her to hear and question what he meant by that.

He glanced over at Raynare's body with cool eyes, taking note of several cuts and bruises, as well as a few physical deformities, hinting at possible broken or dislocated bones or joints. The fact that she was as lucid as she was showed she had some impressive willpower in her. However, he would not have her being this weak for long, if she had been beaten by the few devils whom he'd incapacitated in mere minutes than she would only be a hindrance later on.

"It is nothing too bad," he spoke in his deep voice. "Even I have been beaten once in my life. It just means that you have to get stronger, to remove any weakness from your body and mind. We will work on this when we get you taken care of."

"We?" Rias asked from underneath him. Her eyes widened as she now remembers the first time she'd heard about him, about how he was in the company of some strange woman. "You mean-"

"Hehehehe," a familiar chuckle interrupted her, the three remaining 'conscious' people's eyes turning to a laughing Freed who was still in pretty bad shape, though he was making his way over to them. "Hehehe, Raynare-chan didn't mention anything about you, good sir, but we aren't complaining. Now I can finally cut me up some stupid devils, though it's a blow to my pride that I wasn't the one to beat them."

Sephiroth looked at him with calculating eyes. "You must be Freed Sellzen. I know of your bloodlust for killing devils, but if you value your life, you will leave these devils alone for now," he stated, much to the shock of everyone.

"WHAT?! WHY WOULD YOU LET THESE ROTTEN DEVILS LIVE AFTER BEATING THEM, YOU IDI-"

-crrchhh-

The sound of flesh being impaled interrupted Freed's rant as his eyes were wide yet he couldn't move his head to see what'd happened. Sephiroth was still standing over the Gremory girl, yet they and Raynare were looking at him, the devil being the only shocked one.

Behind him, Jenova's form emerged, her tail impaling his neck from the side. It curled into itself like a snake til the tail was wrapped around the neck. With a simple electric pulse through her nerves, the message was sent to contract her tail's muscles, the result being a loud snap as the exiled exorcist's neck was snapped like a toothpick.

"I don't need unstable lunatics in my ranks," Sephiroth explained. "He was a wildcard I felt unnecessary."

Raynare could understand his logic, and goodness, she held no care for Freed at all, finding the man too vulgar and his habitual impulses annoying. However, she still couldn't figure out why Sephiroth didn't want to finish off Gremory and her peerage. As if answering the unspoken question, Sephiroth continued.

"Rias Gremory, heir to the Gremory Clan and younger sister to Sirzechs Lucifer. The only reason I'm going to spare you and your peerage's lives is too settle a debt I owe your brother. Tell him we're even, but the next time we meet on the battlefield, I will not be so merciful."

Rias and Raynare couldn't understand, but the former was merely grateful that, despite being a horrible person, Sephiroth was not without some honor. He turned back to Jenova. "Mother, you may do what you like with him."

Rias studied the admittedly gorgeous, albeit..physically unique woman with scrutiny. Just what did he mean? She heard Raynare shiver when Sephiroth had said that, so apparently the fallen angel had an idea. Unfortunately, she could not have prepared herself for the truth.

Jenova smiled gratefully and stabbed both her hands through the chest of the deceased priest, followed by her teeth into his neck once she'd removed her tail. Rias couldn't describe exactly what was happening, but it was as if the corpse was rapidly deteriorating. Freed's skin was covered in purplish veins before turning grey than simply dissolving.

If that wasn't the whole thing. Not only was his body dissolving, but his clothes and weapons as well. Socks, shoes, glasses, clothes, and bones! Raynare was still quite surprised by this. Jenova had simply held her face before, never having stabbed or bitten her. Was it because she was simply trying not to immediately kill her? She didn't want to imagine what that treatment would've been like in place of what she'd gotten a taste of.

In a mere horrifying minute, there wasn't anything left of Freed, nothing at all. The glowing, pulsing, pink veins on Jenova's body glowed brightly for a few moments before settling to their original color. Her pupil-less eyes stared into the Gremory's, causing the girl to involuntarily quiver from the hungry look in her eyes. Moments later, she brought her tail up to her face and looked to be concentrating. To Raynare and Rias' disbelief, what looked to be a light sword sprouted like a stinger from the tip of Jenova's tail, making a whirring sound like one of those light sabers from that American movie.

"How was it, Mother?" the son asked, completely undisturbed by what he'd seen.

Jenova seemed to think about her answer for a moment. **"It's not like other humans I've had. The flavor is a bit more bitter, like it's tainted with something." **Her smooth, feminine voice didn't, yet did, fit her image in a strange way to the ones who've yet to hear it.

She began walking over to them, giving Rias a very hungry look and smile as she passed said devil, before lifting Raynare onto her back.

"We will only upset Raynare's injuries by traveling our usual way. I think it's time to see if my summoning skills are still up to par," Sephiroth said, once again confusing Rias. His left arm began glowing an ominous white, pale white fire covering his entire arm. "Heed my call, Lord of the Skies...Bahamut." With a spasmic jerk of his arm towards the ceiling, a white ball shot out, through the roof, and into the heavens with a small sonic boom.

Sephiroth stepped off of Rias' back and walked towards his mother and their cargo. The relief gave Rias a chance to glance into the sky and she lost her breath for the second time that day. Strange glyph-like symbols formed in the sky, followed by a swirling mass of clouds with an occasional lightning flash. From that cloud, a large, winged beast emerged, its body being drawn by some blue outlines before actually appearing.

What emerged was a large dragon modeled like those of the Doman period of ancient Asian cultures. It released a roar and flew towards them. With a thundering crash, it slammed through the ceiling and onto where the altar used to be. Its sized took up about half of the worship hall, its heartless eyes causing fear to become the most prevalent emotion in both Rias and Raynare, but soon for the latter, that fear turned into adoration at how her new master could summon dragons with a mere flick of his wrist. He was definitely more interesting than Azazel and Shemhazai.

Unlike the reactions of all dragons they knew of, this one got on all fours and nearly laid on the ground, awaiting its master's call. Jenova climbed skillfully onto Bahamut's back, situating herself and Raynare between the bases of its massive wings. Sephiroth turned to walk, but looked back at Rias who had moved herself into a sitting position on her knees.

"Remember Rias Gremory, I won't be so generous next time you get in my way." With that, the trench coat-clad swordsman dismissed Masamune and hopped onto the back of Bahamut with a single leap. The beast raised at the unspoken command and took the the skies, its wings tearing down both adjacent walls of the church with the first beat of its wings. Before long, they were completely out of sight.

Not wasting time, she checked on Akeno. Thankfully, her best friend was still alive and almost waking up. She rushed over to Koneko and checked over her body. Again, another of her precious friends seemed to have avoid any serious injuries. Running over to her pawn and knight, she was relieved that Kiba seemed to just be waking up, though she was horrified by the state of her pawn, Issei.

He was clearly unconsciousness, either from shock, blood loss or all of the above. He had a very deep cut from one end of his chest to the other, and his left arm was cleanly amputated at the elbow. She knew no way to save him without a phoenix tear. She began crying while cradling his head, cursing herself for her weakness to help him in time. If only they had never had to go rescue that Asia girl.

"?!" Her eyes shot open as she remembered that the nun had to rare sacred gear, Twilight Healing, that could heal all manner of wounds. Perhaps there was still time to save Issei-kun.

Rushing over to the dead nun, she winced at the look of sadness that was been carved onto her soft face. 'No one, especially you from what Issei has told me, deserved to die this way.' She pulled out her remaining bishop piece, one that enhances the magic of its container, so combined with Twilight Healing, she could still save her precious servants.

"Asia Argento, I, Rias Gremory, hereby resurrect you as my loyal servant. Live again as a devil and be thankful!" **(not sure what the dialogue was, so I was winging this.)** She pushed the red-glowing chess piece into the nun's chest. The nun was still for a few moments before her eyes slowly opened.

"I-Issei?.." She blinked a couple of times and was disappointed that it wasn't Issei who she was waking up to. Besides, she could've sworn that she'd died. What was going on? "Where's Issei?!" she shouted with worry.

Rias grabbed the girl by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet. "There's little time to explain. You died, I resurrected you as a devil because I need your Twilight Healing. If you don't, than Issei-kun is going to die!"

She had the nun's attention now, her worried face now showing she was startled from the quick revelation. "O-okay, where is he?" Rias ran over and grabbed his arm from a few feet away and pulled Asia with her to where the two servants were lying, one now awake and barely aware of his surroundings.

Asia had been able to close the wounds on Issei's body from the entirety of the night's battle, but it took a little bit longer to reattach his arm. From there, she had some help from Ddraig, the Red-Dragon Emperor residing in the Boosted Gear, as it began helping with what healing it could. Once he was stable, Asia began helping the others. Kiba had a couple of broken ribs from catching Issei, as well as a broken leg. Koneko had a severe concussion, a sprained ankle, and a few fractured bones. Akeno had second degree burn marks over 98% of her body from her own lightning attack, but the Twilight Healing made short work of it all.

As if by some universal law regarding cliches, Grayfia, Sirzechs, and the rest of his peerage, as well as the irate Asmodeus came within minutes after the entire group was healed, though Koneko and Issei were still unconscious. Once the area was cleared, they cast the entire hill in an illusion to hide all of the devils that began filtering into the church and hilltop.

Sirzechs made it certain that his little sister and her friends could rest before having to answer any questions. He had Issei's parents hypnotized to cover for his assured absence while the Rias Gremory peerage was brought to the Gremory Mansion to rest.

Meanwhile, the unlikely duo with their extra passenger returned to the sub-base of the Khaos Brigade, unnoticed by any except Ophis who questioned about Raynare and was given the full explanation by Sephiroth. After getting Raynare settled into a bed beside Jenova and healed of her wounds by Ophis, Sephiroth finally laid himself down onto his own bed. The moment his bare skin touched the soft mattress, he was out like a light from the excitement of having lunch with the leader of Hell under the name of his most infamous rival and than beating down that very same Maou's little sister in a church of all places.

Life really is full of surprises.

* * *

**A/N: Prostrate yourselves before me, my pigeons! You have asked and I have delivered. This chapter took so much effort on my part and I'm seriously exhausted from writing it. Don't expect all chapters to be this long. I had to make an exception for this one because its a chapter that's signaling the beginning of a new arc.**

**I would like to explain the Raynare in this story. Since her character is killed off so early in the manga/anime, there's not alot known about her. There are plenty of bad women who are attracted to power. We see them all the time, and WE. LOVE. THEM. Raynare is simply one of those women who sees that Sephiroth is powerful and isn't so restrained in showing it as Azazel or Shemhazai were. I will continue to develop her character as I go, so she's not going to be a horny schoolgirl all the time. In fact, I might've overdone it on that last scene into her thoughts.**

**If you like what I did with Freed, congrats, you're finally understanding that the canon we all know is as fragile as china ware. Also, if some are upset about the DBZ reference, sorry but I always wanted to use that line. If some of you were upset because you thought I would let Sephiroth kill the Gremory peerage this early, I'm sorry to have disappointed you, those devils are protected by the legendary plot armor as of now, but it won't last forever.**

**Now, on to the news that I promised you all at the top. **

**I have officially decided to do several cameos of characters from all stretches of the fictional universes, from Fate/Stay Night (not talking about Berserker who's an obvious future member), to Poke-Mon, to Dungeons and Dragons, to Rosario+Vampire, Fairy Tail, Witchblade, Elfen Lied, and even Naruto for some of you fans of Pai-... whoa, almost gave hi-..shoot, almost gave that person away. ;) More universes to be included are more figures from Devil May Cry, maybe Bayonetta, possibly Okami, and heck, even Final Fantasy (VII, X, XII, XIII- remember, just figures or creatures). **

**Also, now you know, Sephiroth does have SUMMONS. **

**Now for you Witchblade occultists, I'll just introduce both Masane and Shiori. :D **

**Also, I will be creating some OCs for some of the less popular or less familiar universes, as well as some OC races. No one big, but I've got plenty of ideas that are crying for attention. Note, this does NOT mean that I will just accept any and all ideas. Tbh, I might not even use some universes since this story is already going to be huge, but if I feel the conditions are right and nothing will backfire, than I make a decision.**

**Thank you all for giving this story's last chapter so much attention. I kindly request you write your opinions in the review box below. Please, as these both help and inspire me to write faster. It can be just a 'Great job beating up Issei,' or something more technical, like how I did on my grammar or character structures. I hope to make it over a hundred reviews with this chapter. **

**I would also ask you to spread this story around to fans of any of the aforementioned universes I named or who might enjoy Final Fantasy and HSDxD. I would love for this story to grow and be appreciated by more viewers, not that there's anything wrong with the current ones. (hehehe)**

**Next chapter, Sephiroth will start creating 'The Fallen Ones.' Till next time, this is Lucas Bane, signing off.**


	9. Vergil Recruiting, pt1

**A/N: Welcome back everyone. Sorry for the long wait. Several awesome Naruto stories had derailed my focus for the first week after I posted chapter 9, as well as numerous personal life issues, such as the loss of my uncle via prostate cancer about a week ago. It's scary when you think about those kinds of things. He could've gotten it taken care of years before it was outta control, but he'd procrastinated and never thought it was something bad. People, if you're ever doubting your health, do try to get a check-up. It might save your life. **

**I would like to say that I very pleased with the turnout my last chapter brought. It was a whopper to write so I'm glad it paid off. Thank you all for your encouraging praises, except Thorndsword. You don't get any thank you's. Nah, I'm just pullin' yer leg. If anyone else was disappointed that Sephiroth's power level was revealed to be below that of Sirzechs, don't fret your little heads. Sirzechs has been in wars the size that would make Shinra's head explode, and he's been alive for thousands of years so he'll obviously have more experience, plus he has a form that can destroy almost any physical object from existence just by touching it. As the author of this story, you've seen what I'm willing to do to make sure everything falls into place, so I ask that you just trust me. **

**This arc will be known as the Recruitment Arc. Name's kinda lame; bite me. Sephiroth will be traveling cross-dimensions (in most cases) looking for recruits with potential. The first one will take a whole 2 chapters finding and making a deal with Vergil. The rest of the team will be retrieved in a 'strategic sense.' I've also got two surprises at the end in the other's note.**

**There's just one little update about all of these characters though. Since some of them are rather close to each other, in a literal sense and not something emotional, pairs like WRS and IBRS might be within two chapters, but one chapter will be acquiring them and the other will be a short biography of them, so there'll still be two per person. The Queen's Blade women might be together in one arc, though it might be five or six chapters since there are so many. I might change this idea though.**

**Disclaimer: I own Final Fantasy Highschool DxD: Advent Nightmare, but I do not own the canonical characters or settings.**

**Please enjoy.**

* * *

_Vergil Recruiting, part 1_

Standing in front of her brother and the other Maou of the Underworld with just her queen by her side, Rias Gremory nervously waited for her moment to speak. The powerful Satans were just now getting situated in their seats at the dinner table of the Gremory Mansion. They took their seats in a business-like fashion and looked to the Gremory heir, succeeding in only making her more uncomfortable.

Sirzechs saw the look on his beloved imouto (**did I get that right?**) and tried to ease her nerves. "Rias-chan, this isn't an interrogation. You're under no scrutiny. We just would like to know what happened. Thanks to a new sensory device made by Ajuka-san, we were able to detect Sephiroth's use of his unique magic. When it also detected your peerage nearby is when we hurried to get to you."

Rias and Akeno let out breaths that they'd been holding. Their shoulders relaxed before resuming a now more comfortable proper bearing. "Thank you, Oni-sama." (**I hope I got that right.)**

"Now, please just start from the beginning. How did this all happen?" the Lucifer asked.

Rias began recounting her tale of how her pawn and current wielder of the Boosted Gear, Hyoudou Issei became friends with a foreign nun named Asia Argento. There were some surprised looks from the Satans and a snort from Asmodeus. Rias continued with how one of their clients were killed by an exiled priest and Asia was left behind after stalling Freed Sellzen for them to rescue an injured Issei.

She didn't waste time then explaining her plan to help Issei after hearing his resolve to help her since she would not leave her pawn alone on what would have been a suicide mission for him. She briefly recounted her and Akeno's battle with the three fallen angels than arriving at the church where her knight, rook, and pawn had defeated all of the priests and incapacitated the fallen angel Raynare. Asia found them, and at the memory of what happened next, Rias grimaced.

"Than, Raynare mentioned that her life belonged to '_Sephiroth-sama_', than immediately afterwards that exact man jumped from the ceiling, impaling and killing Asia with his sword. "Acting on emotions, my pawn rushed Sephiroth, only to be swiftly cut down and his arm with the Boosted Gear amputated."

Everyone could see the discomfort on Rias and Akeno's face from reliving the scene in their minds, but they kept a strong face. "I know you warned us not to face this man, but my peerage was already being threaten. I couldn't just do nothing while they were being attacked."

"Rias-chan, calm down," her brother ordered softly. "I understand and I'm not angry. You did what you were raised to believe was right. Just please continue. Any information you have about Sephiroth will help us that much more."

The heiress took a deep breath and sighed. "Sephiroth knocked Issei into my knight, Kiba, breaking some of my knight's ribs and his left leg. Me, Akeno, and Koneko, my rook, worked together but still couldn't overpower Sephiroth. He tossed my rook around like a toy, matching and overpowering her strength. He held off and even cut through my strongest 'Power of Destruction' attack while at the same time reflecting my queen's black lightning back at her with some kind of magic.

He than pinned me down under his foot. I thought for sure I was going to die. But...the strangest things happened next."

She took a moment to figure out a way of explaining Sephiroth's next actions. "When the Fallen Angel Raynare mentioned my name, he looked at me...Then he said, 'So, you are his sister.'"

Nobody missed the sudden tensing of Sirzechs' body. "The priest that we had thought taken care of was spouting stuff about killing us devils, yet Sephiroth defended us."

...

The tension was uncomfortable as the Satans quietly discussed their own feelings about what they'd heard.

"He said that if the priest valued his own life, he would leave us devils alone for the night. When the priest, Freed, started to argue back, he was suddenly impaled from behind by a strange woman. She had grey skin with pink, pupil-less eyes and long, white hair. Sephiroth called her 'Jenova' and 'his mother.' She'd impaled the priest with her tail, but then she...did _something_ to him as his body looked like it was rapidly decomposing. The strange thing was that everything was affected: his bones, his clothes, and even his light sword.

It seemed that she had somehow consumed the priest and gained some of his abilities, since she was able to produce a light sword in the shape of a long stinger from the tip of her tail. Sephiroth also said that he 'didn't need lunatics in his ranks', so I'm assuming he might be building some kind of group. But...that's not even the most unbelievable part.

He'd said to me that the reason he spared us is because he owed a debt to my brother, and told me to tell him that now they're even, and the next time they meet on the battlefield, he will not be so merciful."

Everyone was looking at Sirzechs who was looking quite uncomfortable under their gazes. Hell, even the normally sweet Leviathan was giving him the evil eye! But he understood the meaning of Rias' words very well.

"Well...this is awkward."

Asmodeus' first shot out and nailed Sirzechs right in the jaw, sending the Lucifer flying into the wall across the room. "YOU KNOW MY BROTHER'S KILLER AND DIDN'T TELL US!?"

An aura of powerful shot out from the hole, making the air in the entire mansion thick as mist. Everyone's weight felt tripled and many of the servants throughout the building fell to their knees in a panic, sweating mess. The Satans were able to keep on their feet with little effort, though sweat could be seen forming on their foreheads, with the exception of Ajuka.

The Crimson-haired Satan walked out of the hole in the wall with a cold expression not fit for a person with his normal personality. He walked straight up to Asmodeus with no fear or hesitation. His aura began to glow a bright red, outlining his body as well. The stress from his outburst of power was making the Gremory's home's firm foundations shake like a jinga tower.

"I would advise you to control yourself, Asmodeus-kun, and allow me to explain," Sirzechs 'suggested' in a cold tone that seemed unlike him. The other Satan took a step back and mockingly held his arms out with a small bow, signaling him to explain.

"Me and my wife were having a day off yesterday, so we decided to go out to one of the nearby cities, Hellsing. We became hungry and decided to have some lunch at a small restaurant. We joined these two who we'd assume were devils, yet now in hindsight, they were actually Sephiroth and Jenova. They went by the names of Cloud Strife and Aerith Gainsborough. I thought they'd looked familiar but he had worn a different outfit and only a few things matched Jenova's description with the one given by Sairaorg Bael-kun. We talked and had a nice lunch and apparently got to know each other. They were an interesting pair though I didn't get too nosy since it'd have been rude. He had not the money to pay for his, so I'd paid for ours and that was that."

The silence was horrible as everyone tried to catch any hint of deception or exaggeration, perhaps even a joke, from their leader's words, yet when the man's face refused to break into a smile to let them know he was joking, or even twitch a muscle, two words summed up everyone's thoughts yet Leviathan, the normally eccentric and childish Satan that loved to cos-play as some magical girl, said it aloud.

"Da fuck?"

Yes, very accurate words indeed. Beelzebub shook his head after a few long moments of silence, chuckling to himself. "Only Sirzechs would have that kind of luck."

Asmodeus turned on the other Satan that was arguably more powerful than him. "The hell are you laughing about?" If Beelzebub was intimidated, he either really wasn't or didn't show it.

"Calm down some, Asmodeus-kun, it's in the past now and no one was permanently affected this time. I'm sure a few hundred years from now, we'll be laughing about this."

"And what about my little brother?! My clan?! Are you saying I should laugh about how my family now lacks an heir and will go extinct unless my parents decide to restart their love life? I don't know where you've been, but it's quite common knowledge that they hate each other eve since my father let himself go."

This actually made perfect sense to everyone in the room, as it was quite a popular piece of gossip for high-class devils, and it also caused the girls to shudder. Asmodeus wasn't lying when he said that his father, Carius Glaysia-Labolas, had started to put on a few...dozen(s) of pounds ever since he retired from the military. His wife non-too gently explained to him that she would not get under the same bed covers with him unless he lost that weight and nearly accused him of being possessed by a spirit of Gluttony.

The lack of sex life only made the guy depressed, which affected his eating habit more, which in turn led to his wife occasionally having a secret affair with a different 'exotic' piece of meat once or twice a month.

Of course, it wasn't a secret to a select few, those being apart of Marylelen's close-knit group of friends, one of them being Rias' mother, thus is why Rias and Akeno were aware of it.

"Point taken," Beelzebub admitted, "though let's get off of that topic."

"Yes, Rias-chan, is there anything else from the night that you can tell us?" Sirzechs asked, successfully freeing everyone from a rather interesting topic.

Rias ran the entire night's events through her head yet gasped when she came to the end. "Yes, Nii-san, but you all aren't going to like this. Apparently, Sephiroth has some kind of ability to summon dragons to heed his call. He summoned one about the size of the church, called 'Bahamut,' Lord of the Skies, out of thin air. It appeared to be Chinese in decent, or some other country. Its appearance looked familiar, but I'm uncertain."

"Dragons?!" was everyone's general shout, and their expressions matched their cries. The Satans knew things just got infinitely more complicated.

Unless it were a heavenly dragon, or one of the dragon gods, than it would've have been too much of a concern, but they didn't recognize the name of the dragon as one of the dragon kings or a higher tier, so it must not have been awfully powerful. However, that was where the simple stuff ended. If Sephiroth was able to spontaneously summon dragons at his whim, what were the limits to how many or how powerful? To be able to do something like that would require some form of authority or contract over the dragon being summoned. That goes back to one of the most important questions:

Just how many dragons did Sephiroth have a contract with?

* * *

When Sephiroth and Jenova left the church last night with a barely conscious Raynare in tow on top of Bahamut, he went to work with a 'Curaga' spell to aid in the fallen angel's healing. Her wounds closed up within seconds and her lucidity came back soon afterwards. By the time they made it back to the warehouse/base of the Chaos Brigade's Hero Faction, Raynare was able to move about on her own.

When they arrived, the first thing she did was bow at Sephiroth's feet, pleasing the man's ego but he didn't let it show. Instead, he held Masamune's edge to her neck, surprising the woman.

"We will make you stronger, Fallen Angel Raynare. I will not have my subordinates lying beaten at my enemies' feet like you were tonight. If I see you in a state similar to this to anyone but me or Mother, I will cut all ties with you and let the enemy do with you as they wish."

Said former angel's eyes widen and her body shook with barely suppressed fear. Jenova simply watched from the side as Bahamut was dismissed. The moon was full tonight and looking up at Sephiroth's cold Mako-infused green eyes gave him an omnipotent aura to Raynare, making him seem ten feet tall compared to her.

"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and there can be no weakness in my plans. Cast away all doubt about yourself and your limits, and you _will_ receive the strength I require of you. Are we clear?"

Meekly, Raynare nodded, but that only served to have the legendary blade in Sephiroth's hand give her neck a hickey, metaphorically obviously. "That's not very convincing," Sephiroth asked with a hint of Ki (killer intent) laced into his voice. It gave the desired result as Raynare swallowed the doubt and fear and stood up in front of Sephiroth with a new look in her eyes, one that her peers would say hasn't been seen in centuries.

"Yes, Sephiroth-sama. We are clear." Her tone was strong and controlled, her muscles absent of any shaking, her voice absent of any quivering, and her eyes were hardened with determination. Yes, this was the renewal of a Raynare that hasn't been seen in a while, one who had once been an experienced veteran in battles long passed.

Sephiroth and Jenova could feel the change in this woman and were actually shocked by how different it felt from the opportunistic, weak version that had been present just moments ago. She was like an entirely different person. Sephiroth knew of these types of changes, yet they were very rare back where he was from. He'd often seen them in former soldiers and field commanders.

This wasn't a new Raynare he was seeing. This was a Raynare that had been comatose for an indeterminable amount of time and either was waiting for the right trigger to reawaken or had simply been put away since there was no need of her (1).

'Convenient, yet impeccable timing,' he mused. This Raynare would prove to be alot more useful than the other one. Still, with her back to her original self, she would probably be a shadow of it, so he still had some work to do.

"Acceptable," he said, and with one word, the Raynare of recent time that all present knew of was gone for good.

Raynare bowed her head and looked over her body as if seeing it for the first time. 'My body...it feels so different now, yet familiar. My mind feels free-er as well, and my conscious feels lighter. What did Sephiroth-sama do?' She snapped her attention back to her leader with a firm look.

"When do we begin, Sephiroth-sama?" Funny. She was now looking forward to training, to being pushed over her limits. She felt a drive in between her breasts (**I'm talking about her heart, you perverts.)** that had her excited now.

Sephiroth immediately began going over his short-term plan for Raynare and Mother. The first was to find Vergil and figure out a way similar to his method in traversing space and dimensions. There were too many wildcards that weren't affiliated with any of the major factions, and they had a habit of making themselves hidden and far between. It would be too much effort to recruit them with just the three of them, and asking help from the Hero's Faction was just asking for an intel leak on his plans and movements.

If he couldn't find Vergil, than they'd have to risk getting Siegfried's help, since his demonic sword could do the same as Vergil's Yamato, yet it would also mean that Cao Cao could get info on what he's doing. Now, Sephiroth could just kill the human, but he'd have to have a damn good reason, as well as solid proof of that reason, or else Ophis would probably lose her patience and do away with them all. Normally, a young lolita wouldn't make Sephiroth nervous, but when said lolita is a god among dragons that could easily destroy the world cuz it's too noisy, than he'd have to move more carefully than usual.

"In the mean time, whenever we have the time, I will instruct you in various fighting styles, whether it be with weapons or magic, as well as train you to build your body stronger. Mastering the basics will make the more complicated tasks easier in the future. It's late tonight, so we'll start tomorrow while waiting for any sign of Vergil. Understood?"

Raynare had memorized every word and nodded. "Good, now go with Mother to get a bed and get some rest. Be awake at 6 am." She bowed her head and left with Jenova leading the way, leaving him to himself.

It's been a little over a week now since he'd arrived and he's made some progress with Ophis. The 'young' looking dragoness was at first very wary when he'd try to explain to her about Cao Cao, but he hasn't brought the topic up again since so to let her figure it out herself. He's noticed the oh-so-slight narrowing of her eyes whenever she's with the human. It is hardly noticeable yet Sephiroth could see the gears in her head turning as she listens to the man's words while trying to match them with some of the points Sephiroth made.

It would just be a matter of time, Sephiroth knew, but there wasn't any reason to not wish for Cao Cao to slip up so he could him without consequence and be done with another competitor. Meanwhile, Sephiroth has been letting Ophis into the loop of everything he's doing and planning to do. Admittedly, it's a very risky move that's begging for a backlash, but he knew that this situation called for it. Anyway, Ophis has been slowly relaxing around him, which was slow but progressing. He'd have to blame himself for that since Ophis, for all her age and power, was as naive as the young girl she takes the form of. His talk with her undoubtedly change the way she went about things.

Sephiroth was already inside the warehouse when he felt Ophis' energy signature on the roof. Going back outside, he simply hopped onto the roof with little effort, a feat that many devils can't claim to do since they're bound like humans are unless they use their wings. He saw his 'business' partner standing in front of him as if she had been expecting him.

"Ophis," he acknowledged. She looked up at him blankly, though there was something else in there.

"I haven't seen Bahamut in centuries," she spoke up, the statement surprising Sephiroth.

"You actually knew him, even though he's from my world?"

She shook her head. "No, he's from this universe. He was once a Dragon King. There was a battle between one of the Five Dragon Kings, Fafnir, and a human named Siegfried, the ancestor of our Siegfried. Fafnir lost, and Bahamut replaced him. Fafnir was revived and fought Bahamut for his position. No one knew what happened to Bahamut, but Fafnir claimed his position as Dragon King again, before he disappeared as well."

This was certainly interesting to the dimensional swordsman. While he's fought against Bahamut, the latter being summoned to fight him, and respected the beast's powers, he was still able to defeat the large reptile without having to even use half of his true strength. From the sounds of things, Bahamut had been considerably stronger in this verse, but maybe being beaten and trapped inside a ball of materia somehow weakened him. If so, than Sephiroth was sure his battle against the dragon would've been more interesting.

"An interesting story, Ophis. I'd no idea of the history behind my summon. However, how strong are these dragon kings in comparison to warriors of today?"

Ophis mulled over it for a moment before answering clearly. "Ultimate-Class Devil atleast. Still weaker than what you've shown me." She didn't waste time going to another topic. "So..you brought a fallen angel."

The silver-haired warrior nodded. "Yes, I had use of her information within Grigori and what was going on around this city. With her group and operation now destroyed, I will oversee her training and make her more suitable to my goals. Oh, and we might be expecting another member soon. A devil that is apparently from a different dimension, like me but not the same."

She didn't show much of a reaction, unsurprisingly. Besides a few times when they first met, she has been like a statue in concerns with expressions. It's like she just didn't care about anything that happened, like a child playing with ants but suddenly gets bored. She has that bored expression all the time and it could unnerve any lesser of a being.

"You tell me this why?" she asks, which Sephiroth just responded with a calm face.

"Why not?" he responded before walking off to the roof entrance to get some rest. He stops after a couple of steps and turns his head back to her. "His name is Vergil, in case you see him. Wears a blue coat, carries a long, sheathed sword, and has white, slicked back hair. Also, I'm trying to collect warriors for my own group to help _you_ with your Great Red problem. He has a method of traveling dimensions, which I want to use to explore other realms and recruit fighters who aren't influenced by the groups of this place. I'll give you a farewell whenever we go."

She doesn't respond, but then again, he really wasn't expecting her too. He exits the rooftop, leaving Ophis there to think over his words and the meaning behind that one sentence. _'Also, I'm trying to collect warriors for my own group to help you with your Great Red problem.'_ She pondered the reason he enunciated 'you' like he did and eventually connected the dots, basically figuring out he was making a group to help her unlike 'other' people who have their own motives that are not in her's ambitions best interest.

_Meanwhile..._

The half-devil Vergil a couple of portals away from pulling his hair out as he mercilessly cut down a trio of large brown-skinned, bipedal beasts who wore some kind of red armor and carried large melee weapons. Despite usually keeping a calm exterior, the normally confident and deadly aura he exuded was gone, replaced with one of irritation that seemed to unnerve, yet attract, all the native lifeforms around him.

His attempt to get out of that dimension was a success, though the attempt to get back to his original dimension was an utter failure. In fact, he's been to like twenty different ones, but it wasn't his fault! He had never been able to traverse into completely different universes before, but ever since he first did it a couple of days ago, he's had no problem. In fact, it was easy. _Too easy.._

The one word he would use to describe it all was 'clusterfuck.' Seriously, he was aware that each separate universe was just that- separate. It had to be or else anomalies like himself would be popping up in the wrong area. However, the dimensions were like bulls separated from each other by gates, yet it's like someone replaced the steel gates with ones made of cardboard, and with enough force and precision, that bull can escape and go to a different one. This was easiest metaphor to understand, and it seemed he was lost. He could have probably sensed out the energy of his own homeworld, but with the barrier b/w dimensions as weak as they were, his devil senses were almost overloaded with the influx of hundreds of worlds' energies leaking, clouding his perception.

It made his return...troublesome. Apparently, unless he could develop more advance senses, than his only chance of getting home was by opening a portal and hope for the best.

He didn't like being this helpless. It was unnatural for someone like him who was use to being in control of his own fate. He took a glance around the area, noting that wherever he was, it was not the Earth he remembered. San Francisco, he recognized the city from atop a large sky scraper by a few signs, was a complete war zone. Smoke and fires were visible everywhere, thousands of civilians laid dead in the streets, under collapsed buildings, and in their arms. Hundreds of meteors fell from the sky, impacting into the streets and buildings, some causing said buildings to collapse.

But Vergil had seen a few of these meteors and knew they were no simple space rocks, but actual vessels these alien creatures used to arrive via shock and awe. However, there was still a massive battle being fought in the city and around the outskirts. There were choppers and jets that covered the skies like an iron blanket, and tanks and soldiers of all types that rolled through the city like a colony of army ants on the warpath.

Their opposition looked just as fierce: A truly massive machine, atleast 70 stories tall, standing on multiple legs plowed its way through any buildings in its way at an easy pace. Around it were strange flying machines swarming like locusts through the air, shooting missiles and lasers at the human army. Along the ground were hundreds more of the strange beasts Vergil had been killing for the past ten minutes. While they lacked speed and technique compared to him, to the humans, they were like large, 12ft tall juggernauts wielding large guns and axes and clubs. Each would be shot about fifty times by the human soldiers' standard rifles before succumbing to their wounds.

They would take atleast five or six humans with them on average.

Vergil has had about enough of this planet's chaos. While it looked like he could get a good workout, he was still recovering from both his fights with Mundas and Sephiroth. He was probably at 70% at the moment. He would've rested when he could at some of the past realms he'd wounded up in, but they were crazy as well, though not to this extent.

A violent shaking disrupts his thoughts as the building he's perched on suddenly gets its support beams blown out. Sighing, he sticks his feet to the roof using a bit of demonic power and watches as his view of the sky suddenly turns into an ever increasing view of the ground. Soldiers below are scrambling to get away from the impact zone, same for the aliens. Vergil doesn't fret even though he's upside down with 50 tons of building on top of his feet. The wind rushes up against his face and clothes as he unsheathes Yamato.

Coming closer to him are several of the flying machines of the aliens whom decided to not fear death and try to kill as many humans as they can. Vergil started cutting apart any of the machines that are underneath his falling frame, his sword making easy work of the slightly tougher-than-steel alloy that they are made of.

To the soldiers and monsters down below who weren't fast enough, it looked like the sky was falling on them. Tons of stone, smashed furniture, and reinforced concrete and steel slammed into the earth and pavement like a mighty god's hammer. The dust cloud that was kicked up rose hundreds of feet into the air, spreading out over dozens of city blocks like a large wave. Inside the dust cloud, one's vision would be that of a white and orange tint as the combined exposure of the evening sun reflecting from the cloud and the fires. Hundreds of soldiers and monsters' visions were reduced to seeing merely dark shapes that were the form of their allies and enemies. Similar settings were sprouting up over cities all over the world.

Yet, in only one cloud, the one mentioned above, a single figure stood with unnatural serenity. Unlike the other beings, not including those with thermal scopes and goggles, his eyes pierced the veil of dust that surrounded him like a laser through paper. Vergil was basically unharmed, having jumped away before his inverted perch slammed into the ground. The slight grinding sound of an unknown element of metal (Yamato) being pulled out of its scabbard filled the air and got the attention of more than a few soldiers and beasts meters from him.

While the Marines, those blessed with being equipped with thermal scopes, saw the silhouette of a human, the saw the forms of the aliens rushing towards his position. A squad's heavy gunner, armed with the gas operated, M249 LMG (light machine gun), yelled for the man to get some cover before opening up with his light machine gun.

**Ratatatatatatatatatatatatata tatatatatatatatatatatatatata ta**

The loud staccato of the rounds breaking the sound barrier at 915 m/s (3000 ft/s) ripped through the uneasy silence within the dust cloud. The machine gun swallowed the M27 linked ammo belt like a hungry chubby while the 5.56 x45mm NATO rounds ripped into one of the beasts with passable accuracy at 100 rounds per minute. In just five seconds, the behemoth had thirty new breathing holes in its body.

He and his squad turned to provide suppressive fire on the three remaining unholy beasts, their yells answering the roars of the invaders. Riflemen carrying the standard FN M16A4 variants opened fire, not bothering with single shots, opting to use controlled 3-rd bursts since it would be impossible to miss such large targets at this close of range. The bullets rip through the dust and into the targets, most hitting the marks, yet these creatures were not without merit. They toughened out most of the bullets, not even bothered by the individual impacts, and continued to charge towards the soldiers and Vergil who had yet to move.

Vergil watched this all with a slight boredom. Aliens? Really? He huffed and finally sprang into action. The beasts' visibility was poor, but Vergil's was as clear as day. He could see their bodies outlined by their body heat in this low visibility, making him a natural predator. With skill, speed, and precision not born to any human, he bifurcated the three beasts within seconds. He threw the blood off of his blood with a flick of the blade.

The soldiers were looking through their thermals and couldn't tell whether what they saw was real or not. However, they were Marines. They didn't gawked at some seemingly superhuman feat like little school kids. They were Marines, and Marines were trained for the sole purpose of killing America's enemies, and any enemy that threatened them or their allies. They kept their guard up while trying to get the man's attention to pull back to their group. Their thermals showed atleast thirty more hostiles closing in fast and the dust cloud didn't seem to be settling anytime soon.

Vergil ignored the calls, so the squad of Marines moved forward to him. They may be trained killers, but the survival of civilians was a top priority as well. They couldn't tell if this man was some kind of soldier, but they knew no one in the Corps used a sword over a rifle. Much to their ire, their 'civilian' took off at a fast jog towards the genocidal aliens.

"Shit, cover fire. Team with your buddy to take them on, 2 on 1 at a time."

The squad began opening fire, the efforts of the combined strategy paying dividends as one alien after another fell to their firepower. Several of them are able to keep their sights moving to the next target fluently despite the thick dust causing some to have coughing fits. However, it still wasn't enough. They were almost empty of the rifle ammo, sometimes having to toss their mates an extra magazine. With the whole squad using the same kind of ammo, it was an easy to fix problem when one had ammo to spare.

The squad leader, a Sergeant with just four years of active duty experience, knew they wouldn't be able to hold out. Thankfully, that's what air support was for. He got on his radio to call in their situation.

"Camelot Command, this is Alpha squad of 23rd Baker company. Can you spare any support? We're at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Washington St. where the Trans America Pyramid use to be. We've got hostile flooding our position with civilians in the crossfire. We need close-air support ASAP. Over."

**"Alpha Squad, this is Bullet Command. We've got F/A-18Fs in the area. Callsign 'Bounty Hunters.' They'll be in your position within the minute. How copy? Over."**

"That's a solid copy, Bullet Command. Over." Suddenly, his radio crackled to life with another voice.

"**Alpha Squad, this is Bounty Hunter01. We are over your area. Be advised, half the city's streets are covered in dust. It is impossible to tell friend from foe. How copy? Over."**

"Bounty Hunter01, this is Alpha Squad. We'll send a signal to you. Attack direction NorthWest, approach from the SouthWest, blow away everything past our location. Area is declared hot. Fire for effect once target is marked. Over."

"**Roger that, Alpha Squad. Set the marker then get the hell out of there. We've been authorized to use 2000lb JDAMs. Over."**

The Marine's eyes widen and he sprung into action. "Alpha Squad, secure the civilian. We've got birds on the way packing some serious heat!"

"Sir, the civilian is already too far ahead. We can't get any closer," a private yelled out. There were several monsters within the dust cloud armed with some kind of projectile weapon which made their job that much harder.

Hating to make this decision knowing a civilian will probably get killed, the Sergeant had to think about the fate of the city over one man.

"Sir, we've got more hostiles incoming on our position! Atleast forty more!" their machine gunner said, blasting off practiced bursts of fire into the dust cloud at unseen targets. Not wasting any more time, he pulled out a fist-sized beacon and pressed a button. It may not have looked like any happened, but right now, it was giving off a flashing strobe to the jets in the air. Rearing his arm back, he tossed it about forty yards down the street.

"**Alpha Squad, we've confirmed visual of the beacon. Approaching NorthWest from your side. Get to some cover. ETA is twenty seconds. Over."**

The pilot's voice left no room for argument. "Squad, fall in on my position!"

The five other Marines shouted out a 'Yes, sir!' before making a bee-line to him, he himself running back for some decent cover. Overhead, the roar of the multi-purpose jets' engines screamed over the battlefield, followed by the sound of a buzzsaw. They couldn't see what was going on, but they knew from the amount of asphalt being kicked up that the jets were strafing with machine gun fire. Suddenly the sound is accompanied by a large 'clink' sound, like two sticks smashing into each other. It was the sound of four F/A-18's payloads being dropped.

"Squad, take cover!" The six men dived to the ground, praying that the jets' accuracy was spot on.

_meanwhile..._

Vergil had bothered not listening to the warnings of the soldiers behind him. He cared not for he was not like them, despite the danger being all the same. He rushed through the dust cloud, cutting apart any of the large beasts that came across him. Behind him was a trail of bodies that were either dead or injured with amputated limbs, roaring in pain and cursing his existence, some calling out '_Long live the Governor_' before they died.

The loud sounds of jet engines and a buzzsaw filled his sensitive devil ears, instinctively making him look up towards the sky that was still concealed by the dust cloud. He saw the fast moving bullets ripping through the clouds, blinding destroying anything that was in its way. Very unfortunate for many of the aliens who happened to be doing just that. Their large, muscular frames were reduced to bloody skeletons or piles of torn meat by the power of the jets. Next, he heard a 'clink' sound before his eyes saw atleast four large metal tubes from underneath the planes falling towards the streets.

He knew enough about human technology, despite his pride in his devil heritage, to know that this was a bombing run and he was standing right in its path. Son of Sparda or not, he wasn't foolish enough to believe, much less think, he could survive being bombed. It just wasn't possible with his physiological makeup.

So, face with utter annihilation, he did the one thing that made sense.

HE RAN LIKE FORREST GUMP.

The beasts he didn't bother to cut down cuz either way, if he didn't kill them, the bombs would, so he just sprinted past them all. One tried to cut his legs out from under him, but he jumped through the air until he was over the cloud that covered everything of the city below five stories. His vision was once again greeted by the sight of a massive air battle like he'd never imagined. Those strange machines with the missiles and lasers were battling with an assortment of human military aircraft, ranging from the AH-64D Apache Longbow and the Marine Corps Cobra gunships to the fix-winged fighters of the F/A-18 Super Hornets, F/A-15 Strike Eagles, F/A-22 Raptors, and the Marine Corps F-35s. Above even that, tens of thousands of feet above the city, were B-2 Spirit bombs dropping precision guided munitions (smart bombs) where they would disappear into the dust clouds or open areas to decimate their targets with pin-point precision. Between those two groups, there were two large airplanes, AC-130 Spooky gunships, which were large cargo-planes with a 25mm gatling gun, 40mm and 105mm howitzers mounted on the left side. There were circling over and around the massive machine that was topping over buildings like an angry child with legos, their munitions pounding away at the monstrous thing yet with little effect.

Than very close rumbling brought him out of her scouting. The thunderous, near deafening explosions of the 2000lbs JDAMs underneath him seemed to shake his world. Their powerful explosions ripped asunder the ground underneath him, turning the dust cloud into one of fire, buildings that once lined the street now being reduced to rubble. Truly he would've been vaporized if he'd been caught in those blasts.

He didn't have time to admire it for more than a second before the jets that dropped the bombs screamed past him at super-sonic speeds. Unfortunately, he was still falling and the explosions were still raging underneath him. He turned his body towards the last incoming craft. Doubting this was a good idea and cursing himself for letting some of his brother rub off on him, he stabbed Yamato deep into the jet's underbelly. He managed to miraculously hold to his sword but the force from the speed of the plane all but ripped his shoulders out of their sockets.

The jet had some smoke come out of the hole and the pilot was aware of something latching but couldn't tell. He tried shaking Vergil off but it only managed to move the sword around, increasing the damage to the crafts belly. The pilot banks right than does a spin in the opposite direction, swinging Vergil around. The wind pressure was wreaking havoc on his muscles and body, the wind pushing his face's skin back to where all of his teeth were showing like some kind of demonic clown.

'Very bad idea' Vergil confirmed. The one time he takes after his brother and it's trying to peel the skin off of his face. He's able to make out a large skyscraper that has miraculously remained undamaged through this entire battle. Still, they were heading towards it and it looked alot better than the other places to stop and recuperate at. His body was seriously feeling the fatigue from nearly two weeks of nonstop fighting.

'Well, here goes nothing.'

The jet made to barrel roll again but this time Vergil had a plan. When the jet turned upside down, Vergil fought against the wind pressure and put his feet against the plane. He fought to not be blown off with the extra drag by holding onto Yamato for all he was worth. The building came closer and closer. When they were about five hundred yards away, the pilot seemed to finally be aware of his trajectory so he canceled the spin and turned the plane's nose upwards to where they were parallel to the building's glass. The top was quickly approaching so he had to time it right, or else he would have a long trip to the surface.

Pulling out his sword at the same time as pushing off of the jet, he was thrown upwards for about 300ft before his ascension finally slowed down. Thankfully, this ascension had come to a stop about thirty feet over the roof of the massive building complex, and since he'd pushed off of the jet, he was now over the building instead of the streets below. The landing was nothing his body couldn't handle as he landed on his feet with unnatural grace.

However, he wanted to just fall on his butt after that insane trip, but he had more dignity and pride than the average person. Steeling himself, he decided to find a secluded place in the building since there was still a massive air battle going on. Finding the roof access, it walked down the stairs and came out on the top floor, which was actually four floors beneath the roof, something he didn't bother to ponder over. He just wanted to find a place to rest and recover his energy, perhaps maybe even find some food. Though he was a devil and their healing abilities were impressive, the consumption of food still helped to improve his recovery rate.

Walking down a long hallway, the outside wall was actually lined with large window panes, so he could see the entire battle as if he were watching it on the big screen. Paying it some attention, he noticed ever so subtly that the aliens machines were beginning to outnumber the humans' aircraft more and more. Finding only a single door on this entire hallway, he tried to open it, only for it to be locked.

'Of course, it's always locked..' he banged his fist against the door harder, knocking the door right off its hinges. "Pizza delivery," he called out, before shaking his head. 'Damn that brother of mine.'

He walked through the doorway and came into what had to have been the penthouse. Feeling he hit the jackpot, he saw a fully stocked kitchen and pantry. He made a note to get something to eat after he secured the rest of the room. Searching the place, he discovered a laundry room, and a bathroom.

'Hmm, I know a penthouse doesn't just have these rooms. Where are the living quarters and dining room. He saw one last door and opened it. What he saw next was unlike any room he'd ever seen. The entire room- a MASSIVE room- was black, yet it had white markings on them that looked familiar. It occurred to him that the room's design was like that of outer space. The room's floor was a stark white, where it had a single table set with a few chairs that all looked to be made of glass. He also noticed that he was not alone.

Sitting in one of the chairs was a woman whose slightly pale skin was only outdone by the white clothes and the white hair that put his own to shame. She was staring at a large screen which showed the ongoing battles outside, yet she seemed to have not a care in the world while she sat sipping her beverage from an expensive looking cup. She turned her face, admittedly quite beautiful, to gaze at him with calculating magenta eyes.

"Hmmm, I had no idea that pizza was still delivering with all that's going on," she spoke with an eloquent voice, her seated posture keeping that of an aristocratic form. Even with his intrusion, she did not react even remotely alarmed.

She gave him a once over. A tall, slightly tanned skin man with good looks, sharp features, slick-back white hair, black and blue outfit with a blue regal-looking coat, and carrying a beautiful scabbard. Certainly not any pizza boy she's ever seen.

"You're not normal," he spoke with an even tone, his words causing her to giggle, forcing her to set down her drink.

"ufufufufuf...that is the last thing I expected to hear from a person who's breaking into my house. Though, I can say with certainty that you're not normal either. In fact, you aren't even human..atleast, not completely."

Vergil's senses were instantly alarmed as he finally felt out her energy and found it disturbingly powerful. Besides that, this woman was able to discern half of the truth about his origins by simply looking at him.

"I can say the same about you. I noticed you looked on at the battle outside like it was some sort of game. You don't even react to my sudden presence like a normal person would. I'm guessing you're somewhat in league with those creatures outside?"

She raised an eyebrow at his deduction, wondering what gave him that impression. "I take it you noticed this entire building is relatively unharmed, a seemingly impossible feat during this war, right?"

His nod confirmed her theory, though there were a few questions she still had. She knew this man was not completely human; he didn't deny it atleast. But she had never felt the other type of energy that dominated his person.

"Well, normally I wouldn't bother with troubling myself with people now of all times, but I find myself curious about you. You may call me Sing Love."

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, of all the people a tired Vergil could have run into, it just had to be this woman. A cookie to whoever answers who she is, though a simple google search and you'll have it. I'm sorry for this taking so long, and the reason this chapter is as big as it is is because I'd hit some inspiration in my brooding moment.**

**Anyway, now time for the good news. I might be replacing one or two women on the team. Now, they will still be helping Sephiroth, just not playing as big a role as the others. The two replacements are in fact some I'm shocked no one ever mentioned. These women are like the most destructive bitches in the whole female universe, one having the power of Armageddon at the tip of her spear while the other one has literally nearly destroyed all life in the galaxy, or atleast is responsible for the death of over 8 billion lives.**

**Here are some hints. **

**One is quite literally the queen bitch of the universe.**

**The other one is quite literally the most bipolar, destructive, six-winged angel I've ever known. **

**For those of you who can guess one or both of these women's identities, there's a free prize to you. I will PM you if you were the first to answer either or both.**

**Til about a week or two from now, Lucas Bane, signing off.**


	10. Vergil Recruiting pt2

**A/N: Greetings, everyone. SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY, ME SO SORRY! OERU TXOA LIVU! I know I said one to two weeks but life refuses to let me stay in my room to work on this story. It's plotting against me, I know it. Also, it took me a little bit of time because this chapter is transitioning the plot to TWO of many grimdark ones later. **

**Not only that, but my account wasn't responding to any efforts to operate for three whole weeks. I was going more crazy than y'all were! During that three weeks and a week more after that, I got introduced, and officially addicted, to Skyrim. I believe I need not say anything more.**

**Anyway, this chapter will actually conclude the recruiting of Vergil, even though Sephiroth doesn't do much, and go smack dab into Sing Love's.**

**Also, I'd like to say congratulations to the two people who correctly guessed the names of the two new women who I'll be subbing in in place of two current future members. Now, the current ones will still be recruited, but they won't be the top dogs in the Fallen Ones. **

**Soulbow109 guessed Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades from Starcraft universe. I practically gave that one to ya'll. One of the Queen of Blades' most famous quotes is 'I'm the queen bitch of the universe.' Admittedly, I never knew much about her before I saw her in the trailer for Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. That led me to read all the wikia has on her and I fell in love with her.**

**RealmsofEmptiness, after several different guesses, finally got the other one right. You TriAce people who are fans of Valkyrie Profiles and Star Ocean will know her as one of the toughest superbosses in all gamekind. No, not Freya, though I couldn't blame you, but Ethereal Queen. However, this woman's recruitment will be special, so it'll be awhile before we see her, but I will make several mentions of her throughout the story.**

**The reason I've changed my mind about replacing some members is because in all honesty, there are too many members on the roster who can't match up to some of the powerhouses like the devils, angels, and fallen angels have, even if they had some kind of power-up, they're more like commendable foot soldiers. The difference is just too great. I've decided the two that will be replaced are Ms. Fortune and Aldra. These two will be more like cameos.**

**The Prize I offered was whatever the winner(s) asked for, be it a scene or an answer to a question, or a character appearance. Soulbow109 just asked for the order in which the crew would be recruited, which I won't tell you cuz then there would have been no point to even making that contest. RoE has requested sometime in the future a fight b/w Sephiroth and FSN Gilgamesh. That will be interesting. Two men with egos the size of a celestial body. yeah, can't wait.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vergil, Sephiroth, any of the HSDxD people, or White Rock Shooter. If I did, I would have given WRS slightly bigger boobs. Also, I need to make these author's notes shorter. :P **

* * *

_Vergil Recruiting pt.2_

Sephiroth was seated in front of Ophis, the Dragon God wanting to talk to him in private. It was the first time she's taken the initiative to improve on their friendship, yet the man was feeling that this wouldn't be just a casual talk. She'd made sure to give everyone something to do to give them some privacy. Jenova and Raynare should be sparring right about now.

When the building was cleared, they'd went into the back of the warehouse in a storage room. It was a regular sized room, about 10ft width by 30ft length, though it was half-way filled with cleaning and maintenance supplies.

They were seated about two feet from each other and had been silent for a few minutes. Sephiroth was both growing more impatient yet curious enough to keep him in his spot.

"You've really stirred the Underworld up now," the lolita said in her soft tone.

Yes, Sephiroth wasn't surprised by the news. Attacking the peerage of the younger sister of the most powerful devil would normally make him a deadman walking.

"I went throughout the Underworld for a little bit. Everybody knows about the other night. You've got alot of strong enemies. Too many for just you. But many of the yokai look up to you as well; vampires, nekomata, and other beings who're looked down upon by or are at odds with the devils "

He mentally sighed, but he didn't regret his actions. They'd been necessary. He wasn't ever one to make brash decisions and not having thought things through. But, the news of his fans was actually a surprise.

"I'm well aware of this. There will no doubt be hunting parties for me and Mother. While we are powerful in our own rights, single-handedly taking on the entire forces of Hell isn't something I'm planning to do. That's why I'm going to search for other powerful beings to fight with me, even if they're not from this dimension."

Truly, even with the help of the non-devil yokai, they would still be outnumbered and outgunned. Skill can only carry you so far.

The last bit of his speech sparked a sudden question in Ophis' mind that she'd been meaning to ask. "You plan to gather fighters from other lands to help fight your battle. What if they are fighting their own? What would you do?"

"My ambitions will not be impeded. If need be, I will rectify their problems quickly and efficiently," he answered, not missing a beat.

Ophis' eyes seemed to gain an uncharacteristically sharp look to them as she stared him straight in his eyes, or more like in his soul from the intensity of the gaze. After a few moments, she apparently found what she was looking for and held her hand out to him. He looked at it questioningly, making her huff.

"This will be a long and dangerous journey. I've seen glimpses at what some of those other realms are like. There are beings who rival, if not surpass, those of this world. I will look more into these yokai factions that might help you."

This certainly did surprise him. He didn't peg Ophis to be the proactive type, the creation of Khaos Brigade not included. "I have a gift," she spoke softly, though that was her normal tone whenever they talked now.

He didn't push to ask her about these worlds she'd seen, knowing she probably wanted him gone so she could nurse her sore throat from all the talking she's done in the past week. Lifting his left hand to the smaller girl, she takes it into her smooth, soft hand, briefly making Sephiroth mentally laugh at the irony that these soft hands could obliterate him in a single flick.

A purple glow accompanied her other hand before fading away to reveal some kind of platinum-colored, forearm bracer, except it had a ring of sockets along its circumference with two different colored gems into their respective sockets. It looked completely ceremonial and practically useless and unassuming, yet he couldn't help but feel tiny compared to the power within it, a feeling that he wouldn't have liked if Ophis hadn't said that it was a gift. He could only assume it was one thing.

"A Sacred Gear?"

She slid his hand through the sleeve of the bracer where it glowed purple and white before suddenly shrinking, clamping down on to his forearm like a leech. Immediately he felt his strength leaving him, being drained at an alarming rate by this device. He was quick to snatch his hand back and try to pry the metal band off.

"What did you do?" he hissed, his eyes slitting menacingly. Ophis wasn't intimidated as much as she seemed annoyed.

"It's a Sacred Gear I have kept away from everyone else. The Sephiroth Grail." His eyes widen for a brief moment before narrowing.

"Seriously? You're joking." She shook her head in an annoyed manner.

"No. No one I have given this too has lived through the trial. It will continue to drain your energy til it awakens. If you die before it awakens, then that's it. If you live, than you will have a gift that dwarfs all others."

"And why do you give me something like this?" he asked before gasping for air while falling to his knees. His breathing became faster, something he tried to slow down but to no avail.

"You trust me. This is me trusting you," she spoke softly, looking away from him. He didn't get the chance to get her to clarify before he fell to his side as his body felt completely drained.

"Agghh...aghhhh..aghhhh...aghhh.." his grunts of pain and fatigue were something unheard of by any being, and thankfully for pride's sake, he kept it merely at grunts when he wanted to shout out loud.

* * *

_Dimensional training pocket_

Inside the dimensional void, a deadly place absent of time and space, Raynare was exerting her own grunts of pain and fatigue as Jenova really worked her over. Sephiroth had insisted that she learn to fight against stronger opponents instead of those around her skill level. She hadn't been use to the speed and power of Jenova's athletic body.

'Damn...' she cursed as the saliva was thrown from her mouth thanks to a right hook from the mother of her liege. The force of the blow sent her flying, but instead of, a thin appendage known as a tail wrapped around her ankles before slinging her on the ground, which in fact was a paling shield created by some of Jenova's magical abilities, one of which she had just remembered.

POW!

Raynare wasn't given the chance to rest as the tail of Jenova dragged her up to dangle in from of her trainer. The genetic cesspool of a woman looked down at her with cold, indifferent eyes before starting to wale on Raynare's upside down body like a punching bag. The fallen angel groaned with each blow as each felt like they were breaking a bone. Jenova's arms were deceptively fast blurs as they moved back and forth like engine pistons, Raynare's body shuddering and caving in with each blow. After about a forty hit about, the tail reared the beaten woman back and flicked her to the side like a piece of trash.

Skidding across the artificial floor, Raynare wanted to groan in agony but it hurt too much to even breathe. If that wasn't enough, she was suffering internal bleeding as she suddenly started vomiting a pool of blood.

"**_You are too weak to serve my son_,"** Jenova's cold voice cut through the air, stabbing Raynare in the heart. The woman gritted her teeth and spat out a wad of blood before slowly getting to her feet with a screaming effort.

"I will...not fail him. My life...is...his tool. What good is..a useless tool..'' she gasped for breath as her lungs felt crushed from the onslaught of blows received. She knew all to well the feeling of being useless, that week 450 years ago still haunting her, having been the catalyst for her personality change. She would not let that event repeat itself.

**"_Well, atleast you know your place_,**" the ethereal being spoke. They'd been at this training (more like one-sided slaughter) for the past hour now and needless to say, Raynare had bruises in places she didn't even know she could get bruises. Jenova would've thought nothing of Raynare's effort to recover, but stopped at noticing the fire that burned brightly in her eyes. Even when broken, this Raynare wasn't giving up...a much better improvement than two nights ago.

**"_Let's see if that will of yours can be broken_." **She walked forward confidently before going into a sprint. Raynare couldn't do much besides standing on her feet in her condition, which was an impressive feat in itself, but Jenova didn't show any mercy in her eyes. She was in the fallen angel's face the next moment, light sword sticking out from her right palm ready to impale her but the sudden frenzy of emotions from Sephiroth's side of their link stopped the blade inches from Raynare's left eye.

Raynare blinked, yet her trainer was already snatching her through the portal to go to the real world. While Raynare was confused, Jenova was confused, worried, and growling. In a matter of seconds, they were already out of the portal and in front of the warehouse that served as one of many bases that Khaos Brigade inhabited. In the next second, Jenova's foot was where the large hangar door use to be, said door being kicked inward as if hit by a speeding train, startling the hell out of a few present Khaos members from the Hero group, and a couple dozen from the Magician group. Members came and went here as they pleased, Ophis not really putting much effort into keeping them together.

In another burst of speed, Jenova took off to where she felt her son's energy that seemed to be fading fast. She wasn't even aware of the now limp form of Raynare that she was still pulling, said fallen angel victim to several cases of whiplash from Jenova's speed. Jenova plowed through a wall in the back of the complex, knocking over brick and mortar and maintenance supplies. There, on the ground not twenty feet from her, was her son's slowly dying form. Her eyes instantly locked onto whoever was responsible, that being Ophis to her surprise.

Immediately, she jumps at the dragon god, and much to the ire of Raynare, swings the fallen angel like a club, her moans unheard. Ophis merely raises an arm and backhands the body, sending Raynare out of Jenova's grip and into the wall. It hurt very badly if the sounds of bones breaking were to be correctly heard.

"What are you doing?" Ophis asked, eyes narrowed. "You're interruption is uncalled for."

Jenova hissed at the girl. "**_What did you do to Sephiroth?_"**

His body stopped breathing erratically, replaced with slow, deep breaths. "Giving him a Sacred Gear. He has proven strong enough to wield it. The second one to ever do such a thing," Ophis spoke with a bit of praise in her tone.

Jenova stopped her thoughts of murdering the Dragon God to look back at her son. She felt for his presence and sure enough, his condition was slowly recovering, albeit, SLOWLY. She crouches over his prone body and notices that his face was contorted and strained and had sweat dripping down his forehead.

"He's recovering now."

**_"He nearly died_,"** she spoke sternly.

"It takes a massive amount of energy and an ungodly strong Willpower to survive. But the opportunities for him are endless now," Ophis announced vaguely.

A groan interrupted Jenova's unspoken question, it actually coming from both Raynare and Sephiroth but the former was left in the corner to lick her wounds for comic relief. Jenova placed a glowing green hand over Sephiroth's body and casted a **Curaga** spell on him. It seemed to help, but not nearly as much as it normally would've, even that normally it would take like four to bring him back to full health. She casted five more on him and it seemed to be enough to finally give him enough energy to sit up, though slowly with a grimace on his face.

"Did anybody get the color of that WEAPON that hit me?" he grimaced, holding his head as a foreign feeling began spreading its roots in his mind and throughout his body. It was power. But not like his own power that he could use at a whim. It was like the power whenever he was readying one of his larger spells, only a thousand times stronger, and it felt like it would explode at just a command.

"I feel like I'm holding back a dam of power. Is this really the power of a Sacred Gear?"

"Your potential is limitless now, but you must somehow gain access to that potential," Ophis spoke up. "You will not be able to use it to its full capabilities until certain requirements are met. I know none of them though."

Sephiroth looked at the bracer on his arm and saw two gems glowing brightly. "What is this?"

Ophis grasped the bracer in her soft hands and looked it over with child-like curiosity. "This must represent abilities you have unlocked. Different colored gems represent a different tier of power or abilities I assume."

Sephiroth looked it over and noticed that there were ten rows, each having different numbers of sockets. 'The total number of these must represent the number of abilities that are possible to unlock. So many...' He felt through his link his mother grasping his thoughts as well. The two sockets that had gems in them were a yellow and green one, one in the first tier and another in the seventh tier.

"It would be smart to test them," Ophis suggested, "before going into an actual fight. You'll need to recover your strength, but for that, I have another gift."

Wondering what she meant, and if he could even survive another 'gift', he watched as Ophis lifted her hand and suddenly a two foot long, black snake slithered out from her sleeve. It looked at the room's three occupants, tongue flickering out as it tasted the air.

Sephiroth suddenly had the urge to ask a question. "Where were you hiding that on you?"

Both mother and son waited for the answer, slightly wondering if the answer would be something they'd regret to learn.

"Don't worry. Eat it."

Sephiroth blinked several times, wondering if he'd yet to recover from his earlier trial. The way Ophis said that with such a straight face made him sure that he'd misheard it. "What?"

Ophis sighed as she had to explain yet ANOTHER thing to this man. "These snakes are made from my body and power. Once ingested, they will sit in your stomach, yet they will increase all your powers past their normal capacities. Other members of the Khaos Brigade have already done it. This will quicken your recovery as well."

Sephiroth did NOT look convinced. "Eat it whole?" Ophis nodded and Sephiroth stared at the snake which stared right back at him with slitted eyes. Both were watching each other to see who'd make the first move. (A/N: I have no idea how they ingest the snake, so I'm going to have to skip this part.)

* * *

Walking from the hole in the wall were the four beings, Ophis, Sephiroth, Jenova, and the fallen angel Raynare. Raynare had a blushed look on her face while she rubbed her stomach area softly. Jenova had a look of indifference on her face. Sephiroth...Sephiroth's facial muscles were tightened to where he looked just upset at the world. Ophis, unnoticed by the rest, had an amused smile on her face that quickly disappeared.

Jenova noticed the upset look on her son's face and tried to question him through their link.

'**_Sephiroth, you are upset?_**' See?

'I'd rather not talk about it,' he thought bluntly, pushing her from his mind. She was generally shocked by this action as he'd never done it before. Of course, she wouldn't know why he was ticked off. Deciding to quickly change the subject, he asked his mother. "How was Raynare's training going this morning?"

The mention of the training had the angel's recently healed wounds aching again but she dared not show it. She didn't trust her voice to not betray her words but thankfully Jenova answered.

**"_Still weak, but she shows much heart. She is not same as the night I captured her."_**

Raynare shivered in memory of that particularly terrifying and mind-raping experience. She vowed to never use another public restroom again in her long life. And she also developed an understandable fear and utter hatred for anything that glow pink. However, she felt relieved that her master's mother spared some words of approval for her. She would've treated it like an approval of marriage if she had been like her former self, God bless that she wasn't as that would've no doubt been awkward to excuse.

Sephiroth looked towards his new charge, judging her appearance with his own eyes. Raynare for her credit managed to not fidget under his sharp gaze (is it always cold like that?) kept her posture like that of a knight in the presence of his liege. He seemed to approve of whatever he saw and continued to get far away from Ophis and anymore of her serpents. How he wished for some sort of distraction...

A rip in the air inside the warehouse brought his attention to the anomaly, and he thought it looked for familiar. Then, he felt a very familiar energy. 'Thank you,' he said to whoever was responsible for hearing his plea. However, to his surprise, Vergil came stumbling out not in as such a crisp condition as he did when they first met. While his coat was covered in some soot, his under clothes were burned and cut up. They were stained with his blood, and his face had a trail of blood flowing from a cut on his forehead down to his cheek. His hand tightly gripped Yamato as if his life depended on it.

"Vergil?" Sephiroth called, getting the half-devil's attention.

"heh, I figured I wouldn't have to see you again, Sephiroth, but it seems fate has other plans. I seemed to have found myself outmatched." He fell to both his knees, out of energy and suffering blood loss as his wounds couldn't heal properly from his fatigue. Sephiroth caught Vergil before he could fall on his face, yet the devil still had enough stubbornness and pride to small the point of Yamato into the ground so he could support himself.

Seph's palm glowed green as he cast a quick **Curaga **spell that closed the wounds but the half-devil was still worn out so it would be a few hours, perhaps a day, before he could be in fighting condition again. However, with the pain gone, Vergil was able to keep conscious; a commendable effort since he'd been so heavily wounded. Just how did someone of his caliber get in this condition? That was something Sephiroth would find out.

"You are an exceptional fighter, Vergil. You run into some tough company?" he asked, a bit amused.

Vergil groaned in annoyance, hoping Sephiroth wouldn't turn out like another Dante. "I was able to travel to different worlds and existences, just not my own," he said, surprising the three around him. "The whole boundary b/w the planes is shattered. Imagine each universe as a pea in a pot, yet there's a barrier separating each from the other. Remove that and no universe is where you originally thought it was. That's my theory anyway. Something must've weakened that barrier. After two weeks of traveling, I came across one Earth that was fending off an alien invasion."

Sephiroth and Jenova exchanged a raised brow. "You mean illegal immigrants?"

Cue Raynare and Vergil looking at both of them with mild astonishment and disbelief.

"What world are you from?" the devil asked. "I'm talking about _aliens_. Large, vicious creatures from another outer space invading Earth. Extra-terrestrial invaders, kind of like you two," he added the last part, hoping to get his point across. "Anyway, while fighting my way through a battle, I entered in a large tower hoping to rest from my travels, yet I happened to run right into the living room of the leader of them all. I knew she wasn't human, yet I was still confident I could beat her, even in my state."

He violently coughed as he slowly stood under his own power.

"And you were beaten still," Sephiroth asked, knowing the answer. "She must've been pretty powerful."

"Quite soundly, might I add. It was very one-sided. She was both strong and skilled. She has exceptional skills with a sword, as well as a scythe and gun. She never reacted to any of the wounds I dealt her, even when I stabbed her through the heart. However, her gun…it turned into something that took out half the city in one blast. I barely survived and escaped, heading for your energy signature and hoping I'd get lucky and actually show up where I wanted."

They set him on an empty bed, ignoring the stares of any of the Khaos members that were meandering about. Dozens come and go that he never bothers to memorize all their names. Vergil relaxed onto the bed and felt his fatigue taking over.

"You will need to rest up. However, I can only guess as to the nature of you coming here of all places. You deciding to take up my offer?"

Vergil wanted to roll his eyes but that would have probably been too beneath him, so he opted with a half-hearted snort. "Don't let it go to your head, Sephiroth. I find it in my best interests if I were lost in other dimensions with allies instead of by myself. Your healing magic is quite useful whenever I find myself in need of a quick patch-up."

Sephiroth smirked, knowing it was just Vergil's way. Like the devil, he himself has too much pride to openly, or easily, admit his faults. Accepting them, no problem, but saying it aloud was a different story.

"Whatever you say. Rest up and seek us or Ophis out if we don't come and see you later. Mother and I will be busy training Raynare." Said girl mentally readies herself for more pain.

"Who's Ophis again?" Vergil asked. Remember, it's been two weeks for Vergil. Time travels differently with each dimension.

"She's known in this world by a few names, one of them is the 'Dragon God of Infinity.'"

"Oh, just look for a massive dragon. Got'cha."

Vergil's eyes shifted up at the chuckling Sephiroth. "What's funny?"

Sephiroth recovered himself. "Ophis is capable of shifting her physical form to whatever she likes. She prefers a young, black haired lolita."

With that said, he left the room, letting Vergil stew on what was said about their 'figure head' of a leader, who was also wondering just what the hell did he get himself into.

* * *

**A/N: I know it wasn't much, but I need to end it here. I had to get this chapter out to y'all after being unable to write on my account for so long. I'm sorry that Sephiroth's gaining of the Sephiroth Grail wasn't as grand or memorable as you all hoped it be, same as Vergil's recruitment, and same for the Grail's appearance. Some things in life are just like that. Even in real life, some of the most important events happen in anti-climatic ways or subtle ways. I speak from experience. **

**Anyway, if you weren't completely revolted by the quality of this chapter, please feel free to review. Also, I've updated the team roster, adding the cameos (secondary characters), and even going out on a limb to put together the future squads. Take a look and tell me what you think.**

**This is Lucas Bane, blasting off agaiiiiiiiiin. (hehe, I love Team Rocket)**


	11. Note

**Note: Just wanted to let you all know I'm having a bit of difficulty with this current chapter. I've got it planned out, and I have started on it, but it's just this one part that I'm stuck at, like I get a brain fart every time I try to come up with a method for Sephiroth learning to use his powers. I don't want to rely on the same methods more commonly used because I feel like it'd be kinda half-baked and not good enough. Any unique ideas would be appreciated. This note will be replaced with the chapter when it's finished.**

**Lucas Bane**


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